Monday Munchies: Cafe Capyba

Do you know what a capybara feels like? The answer may surprise you, but you can find out for yourself at this cute cafe. Tucked away on a side street in a Tokyo neighborhood is Cafe Capyba, a little cafe where you can hang out with Kohaku and Pisuke- two Capybara who are ready to receive pets and carrots from you! When you arrive, you are required to pick a drink, I got an iced mocha while Bestie got tea and then head up the stairs to put your stuff in a free locker. Except your phone, you can definitely keep that with you. And you'll want it too! After you make your way back down the steps without stumbling (why are the stairs in Japan so steep?!), you're led into the area where the capys are. We didn't know what we were allowed to do so we just sat on the long couch in front of a small table, until one of the guys running the cafe was told us, "go...pet" while motioning to Kohaku. You don't have to tell me twice! We popped over to the couch on the other side of the room where Kohaku was lounging.

Pisuke was on the opposite side of the same couch, getting loved on by another customer already, so we had Kohaku all to ourselves. There's 12 people max per session, but everyone seemed to arrive at different times. I don't know if that's normal or if people were just late? But when we arrived there were two sets of two other people, so 6 of us total, which was nice because we had plenty of time to take pics and to pet the capybaras to our hearts content until others staggered in. To answer the question I posed in the beginning, they're to coarse to the touch! I really thought that they would be soft like their guinea pig relatives. However, this coarseness is important to protect them from the sun, protect their skin from damage, keep them warm in cold weather, and it allows them to dry quickly after being in water!

The coffee was fine, it's pretty hard to mess up an iced mocha, but let's be honest, I wasn't really here for the coffee. For the experience alone it was worth the price- 1250Y for the first 30mins, 715Y for my coffee, 330Y for the veggies and I think 700Y (I don't fully remember to be honest, it was so early in the trip) for the souvenir glass I bought winds up at around 1400-1500Y what is about $10-12USD total. If you'd like to book this for your next trip to Tokyo, you should know that it books up FAST. You can book as early as two weeks prior to the date you want, and I was online and ready right at midnight Japan time to snag a spot. There were actually two capybara cafes in Tokyo, but I picked this one because they seemed to care a lot about the well-being of their capybaras including putting time and consideration into available booking times and ensuring they had breaks between. I don't know, I just had a better feeling about them over the other. Check out their website here for more information and to book a reservation! If you go, give these buddies an extra pat for me okay? : )