Arashiyama Monkey Park in Kyoto, Japan

When we were planning our visit to Kyoto this summer I found one place that I knew we had to visit. Arashiyama Monkey Park is located on the outskirts of Kyoto and is easily accessible by train with a short walk from the station, or a lovely air-conditioned taxi if you are visiting on an unbearably hot day like we did!

To visit the Monkey Park, you buy your ticket at the entrance and then you need to climb up the hill to get to the monkeys. It only takes about 30 minutes, but when we visited in July during a heatwave it was a long, hot walk and it was quite tough. There are benches along the way as well as fans, and it's quite shaded, but you definitely need to be careful in the heat. We had cooling towels and fans which really helped, as well as plenty of water. At the top there was a lightly air-conditioned indoor rest area, and there were also vending machines for drinks at the top and bottom.

On the way up there are plenty of signs in English to remind you how to behave around the monkeys. Both warning signs, like not carrying loose articles that they might grab, and reminders not to feed them your own food, not to approach them too closely, and not to stare into their eyes as that may make them aggressive.

When you reach the top there is a wide, open area with some wonderful views over the surrounding area. And of course you are surrounded by monkeys! They walk around you and can be seen in the forested areas nearby, some even with tiny babies. There are staff to make sure that they are kept safe, but all the visitors were being really respectful to them and keeping a good distance.

In the middle there is an enclosed hut with wire windows. You can buy some food (peanuts and fruit) for a very reasonable price, and then feed it to the monkeys through the windows. This was an amazing experience! The monkeys were so polite, they came up and reached through with their sweet little fingers to take the food. 

This was definitely the highlight of the visit. There's no pressure, if you don't want to actually feed the monkeys yourself you can just stand there, watch other visitors, and enjoy being so close to the monkeys. It's fascinating to watch their behaviours, and very strange to be the ones in the cage while the monkeys roam free!

We had a lovely visit here and I'd really recommend it. It felt completely safe and I definitely had the impression that the owners of the attraction really care about the monkeys and making sure that they are in an environment where they feel comfortable. 

After visiting the Monkey Park there are some other great places in the local area to enjoy. We visited the popular Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, and the walk there takes you down a lovely touristy road filled with pretty souvenir shops and lots of fun themed character cafés which my daughter recognised from social media. We also visited the beautiful Tenryuji Temple, where there were some shaded benches with wonderful views across the gardens and pond. You could easily spend a whole day here exploring and seeing some really unique sights.

Cat Café MOFF Yodobashi Akiba in Tokyo, Japan

Last year we had a brilliant visit to a cat café in Seoul, and so on our trip to Japan this summer we knew that we definitely wanted to visit another.

This was our first visit to Japan, and there weren't as many cat cafés around as I was expecting. I think that animal welfare regulations have been tightened over the last few years, and many businesses have closed. We chose to visit the Cat Café MOFF Yodobashi Akiba which is part of a chain of cat cafés. It's situated inside the Yodobashi Camera store in Akiba, which is also a great place to visit as well as being somewhere for people that aren't as interested in the cats to spend some time browsing!

The café has large windows which look out onto the street, so you can have a look inside before visiting to check how busy it is and to get a sense of what it's like inside. To spend time in the cafe cost us 2000 yen each for an hour, with additional 10 minutes charged at 250 yen thereafter. There are a couple of vending machines supplying unlimited hot and cold drinks, and you can pay a little extra to buy treats to feed the cats. No reservation was necessary, and it's easy to reach by public transport.

We visited late afternoon which was the perfect time. We arrived just before feeding time, and then after that the space emptied out quickly, with only a few people remaining when it was time for us to leave. Feeding time was really sweet, all the cats lined up in front of their food bowls and they were introduced in turn.

There was a really friendly lady working there who interacted with both guests and cats, telling people about them by using a speaking translator app which worked really well. She clearly loved all the cats. We bought some cat treats and jelly to feed to the cats which was really fun. Everyone was respectful to the cats, no one was chasing them around or bothering them. If they wanted to keep out of the way there were plenty of places for them to retreat where they could remain undisturbed.

If you just sat down quietly then a cat would often approach which was lovely! It was a really calm and peaceful atmosphere. Each table had a handy identification guide with pictures of the cats and their names, and they were all pretty cats from a range of different breeds. We were given stickers so that we could vote for our favourite cat on a wall chart but I felt that was a bit unfair so I put my sticker by the cat that had the fewest votes!

Many of the cats were happy to just sit in a basket while you sat quietly stroked them. We stayed for an hour and it passed so quickly - we could have stayed all day! If you love cats and have the chance to visit a cat café I would definitely recommend it, just make sure to check out a few recent reviews first.

If you are interested in a visit, you can find more information here - Cat Café MOFF Yodobashi Akiba

And if cats aren't your thing, we also saw advertisements in Tokyo for several capybara cafés, puppy cafés, a hedgehog café and an exotic animal café featuring kangaroos and snakes!