Cat Bag, a new commercial venture in Tokyo, Japan that charges people approximately $5 to play with cats, is proving to be very successful.”People may think cats are common because they used to be everywhere,” Makoto Suematsu, the proprietor, told an Asahi Newspaper reporter. “However, cats are not familiar animals anymore. There are many people who want to have a cat, but are not able to do so.”

“Some of the children tell me they had never touched a real cat before coming here,” said Midori Kakubo, a Cat Bag employee.

There are usually about 20 different cats with which to play on hand.

“Some repeat customers have their favorite cats and call us to get information about the rotation of the animals,” Kakubo stated.

There are places for the cats to go if they want to be left alone. In addition, they are given one day off per week.

A veterinarian checks all of the cats every day.

“I think it would be nice for people who have never had a pet to learn about the sweetness and preciousness of animals by visiting that type of place,” said Hiroko Shimizu, a veterinarian employed by an animal hospital located near Cat Bag. “They would come to understand the feelings of people who love animals.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2004 at 10:36 pm and is filed under cats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.