14 DAY TRIAL // Some people share a special bond with their pets, be they cats, dogs, lizards, snakes, spiders or whatnot, others with their stuffed toys.
So, as long as there are plenty of cafés for our animal companions opened all across the globe, why not cut the ribbon on one designed to cater to plushy bears and their kind?
This must be what the owners of the Tawarakan café in Tokyo, Japan, were thinking when they opened their one-of-a-kind establishment, which caters solely to stuffed animals.
The café is more like a bed and breakfast
For starters, here's the single most important thing you need to know about the Yawarakan café: no humans are allowed anywhere near it.
The plushy animals are simply mailed to the establishment. Having arrived at their destination, they are pulled out of their boxes and seated at their reserved tables.
The personnel - other stuffed animals that actually have to work for a living - then serve them all sorts of goodies. The menu includes berry smoothies, rice omelette, pancakes with maple syrup and coffee.
After this hearty brunch comes the entertainment. Host Karei the flounder tells ghost stories, they play cards for a while and then it’s off to bed. The day after, they are simply mailed back to their owners.
Sending plushy toys on weekend getaways might sound insane, but as it turns out, the practice is not all that uncommon in Japan, where many treat stuffed animals as if they were real people.
So, how much to send a toy to this café?
The Yawarakan café in Tokyo charges $40 (around €37) to entertain people's favorite plushy animals, feed them, tuck them in for the night and even read them a bedtime story, Oddity Central informs.
When mailing the toys back to their owners, the café includes a photo album documenting their stay and also some souvenirs such as coasters and brown sugar cubes. Regular costumers are also given mugs, magnets or pins.
