Visiting Harry Hedgehog Cafe in Tokyo | Tokyo, Japan
Where can you find owl cafes, cat cafes, and hedgehog/bunny cafes? #OnlyInTokyo is where!
Like everything else in Japan, the hedgehog cafe we visited was CUTE!
Our first preference had been to visit a cat cafe, but the ones we looked into didn't allow babies, so that was out. I really can't blame the cat cafes for their adults-only policies, either. At nine months old, my daughter absolutely ADORES our two cats. As soon as she spots one of them, her face breaks out into a grin, her legs start kicking, and she squeals with delight. She loves "petting" them (i.e., grabbing fistfuls of their fur) and "catching" their tails. They are the sweetest cats and tolerate her, but I can see how babies could ruin the serenity of a cat cafe (which are supposed to be relaxing - for both patrons and cats).
Anyway - I saw on Google Maps that there was a hedgehog and bunny cafe a few minutes away from the Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi, so we decided to check it out.
Harry Hedgehog Cafe was on the second and third floors of a building behind the Roppongi Hills mall/complex. You can't miss it - this is the sign out front!
Once you're inside, let them know how long you want to stay. It's about $15 for half an hour, plus a few extra dollars for hedgehog "snacks" (i.e., mealworms). You can reserve a spot online in hourly increments, but we found that 30 minutes was more than enough time to spend with these little guys. It was cool, but they're not very exciting.
Hedgehog hamster wheel. Is it still a "hamster wheel" if it's for hedgehogs?
After paying, you'll be seated at your own hedgehog trough. Each trough has its own hedgehogs for you to pick up and pet; gloves for you to wear; and hand sanitizer for you to use before and after handling the hedgehogs.
You definitely want to wear the gloves. The hedgehogs are really prickly!
For a few extra dollars, you can buy live mealworms to feed to the hedgehogs with big tweezers. Without the mealworms, I don't know how we would have gotten the hedgehogs’ attention. They just seemed to want to burrow in their substrate and sleep.
Albino hedgehog! He had long toenails. It reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite: "Do the chickens have large talons?"
To be honest my daughter could have cared less about the hedgehogs. She couldn't touch them and didn't know what they were anyway, but we were entertained. Totally worth the $30.
Harry Hedgehog Cafe and Pet Store | 03-3404-8100 | Tokyo, Minato-ku, Roppongi 6-7-2 IWAHORI Building 2F | 1-minute walk from Roppongi Station (Hibiya Line Exit No. 3)