Cappiness: Capybara Cafe in Tokyo

 02 April 2025

Some dear friends from Hawaii were visiting Tokyo and we had the chance to meet up and spend a day together. One of them actually visited me the last time I was in Japan 30+ years ago, so it was also kind of nostalgic/surreal. 

They were staying in Shibuya so we started out there, breakfasting at a Hawaiian themed restaurant called Eggs 'n Things. When we paid, the host was very excited to meet some folks from Hawaii. 

The pancakes weren't the famous fluffy, jiggly kind, but the mountains of whipped cream made up for it. Mine was cherry blossom and matcha flavored. 

The cuteness is everywhere in Tokyo. 

The capybara cafe was called Cappiness and advance reservations are required. We had to wait for the capybaras to have their break time before our group was let in. Each group was given one cup of grass. some people rationed out the grass stalks carefully one by one and others fed them by handfuls and let much of it fall to the floor. It seems capybaras are too finicky to eat off the floor.  

There were a couple of cute stuffed capybaras (in case you couldn't get one of the real ones to come near you, I guess).

There was about 25 minutes of feeding the capybaras. Some of them were more enthusiastic than others. An attendant (standing, with apron) was monitoring everything closely the entire time. 

Their hair feels extremely coarse, just the way it looks.

They haven't got the cleft upper lip that some animals have, and the way their mouth moves when they eat is really entertaining. 

There were three in total, and after a while these two had had enough of people and moved into a corner to chill. The third one just kept eating!

The attendant gave a brief informational presentation with really adorable drawings on a large notepad. 

There was a spin the wheel prize giveaway (extra grass, a capybara photo, stickers, or magnets) for each group.

At the end, the capybaras were given a dish of pellets and each group got a group photo taken together with them.

This was definitely a unique and fun experience.