Are you looking to experience a cute animal café in Japan, but you are allergic to cats? Ra.a.g.f is a colorful rabbit café located a few minutes away from Harajuku or Meiji Jingu-mae station, on the third floor of a small house. You'll notice the store from the logo in the street displaying little rabbits. The store first opened in Jiyugaoka a few years ago, and it became so popular that they opened a new branch in this hip area. You will usually need to take reservations before coming as there have many visitors on a daily basis. You won't need to use your phone to do so, simply walk in and get a ticket with your name and the reserved time. You usually won't have to wait too much and the area, full of thrift shops and American bars, is really interesting to visit. You certainly won't be bored walking around this Japanese interpretation of Brooklyn!
Once you've entered the shop, you'll immediate notice the cages, displaying more than 20 rabbits. The smell didn't bother me as much as other animal cafés I've done, so that's definitely a plus. They have a lot of space to enjoy their rabbit life and customers can open them anytime to play with them. The café itself is small and intimate: it only has three tables or three sets of customers to avoid scaring the bunnies. You can ask the attendants to take a rabbit with you and pet him, and prepared to be entertained! They will keep energetically running around and come back to check you from time to time. You'll have a lot of fun watching them enjoying themselves around the store. If you want to attract their attention, you can buy some food to feed them too for about 150¥, and drinks for yourself are included in the price, which is 700¥ for half an hour.
I love the spirit of the café: it is sweet, colorful and quiet. As for the rabbits, they are funnier than cats. They actually like to interact with you, unlike cats who usually don't always pay attention to customers. The store has rabbits of all races and colors and you'll fall in love with them in no time.The shop is about 5 minutes walk from Harajuku and even closer to Meiji Jingu-mae station. So why not take some time from your shopping to enjoy a nice encounter with the cutest rabbits in town?
