Transportation and rescue kittens—what could be better? “Beautiful country, great food, interesting people, and cat café trains.” This past Weekend, a few dozen travellers rode on on the famous cat café train. They were joined by about 30 rescue kittens,
Transportation and rescue kittens—what could be better? “Beautiful country, great food, interesting people, and cat café trains.” This past Weekend, a few dozen travellers rode on on the famous cat café train. They were joined by about 30 rescue kittens, which spent the trip climbing the legs of besotted passengers, running back and forth on train benches, and napping on laps.
Three kittens clamber over a cat train passenger.
Located about 90 minutes outside of Tokyo visitors can hop this train, which leaves from the small city of Ōgaki, visitors can embrace the culture of cat cafés, in which patrons drink tea and eat cookies while surrounded by felines.
Anyone with such knowledge would be too curious to pass this opportunity up. We would all wonder “what is the experience going to be like?—this vision of a train and cats?” “How was it going to work out?”
The cat train’s exterior
The experience happens to work out very well for visitors, it turns out. Unlike the older, often lazier cats that lend stationary cat cafés a lounge-like atmosphere, the train kittens are in perpetual motion. “They are so light and little and curious about everything,” says passengers. Three kittens circled one woman for nearly the entire ride, clambering all over her. Another passenger spent hours cradling a tiny black cat to his chest.
The experience can last for two-and-a-half-hours by which the trip can fly by. “In Japanese, one very popular word is kawaii, which means cute,”. “That word was more appropriate on this train ride than any other place I’ve ever been. It is awesomely cute. It is just wild!” passenger’s remark.
A Cat Haven for Cat Lovers
The cat train was a collaboration between a local NGO, called Kitten Cafe Sanctuary, and the train’s owner, Yoro Railway Co Ltd. The NGO hoped to promote stray cat adoption, while the transportation company aimed to jumpstart tourism to Ōgaki and the destination city, Ikeno.
To this end, the ride offered other amenities—free food; views of mountains and meadows; a bathroom break halfway through.
Crazy cat women and crazy cat men aboard the train
All were ignored. “Not a single person ended up having snacks during the ride,” says a passenger. “Nobody got off the train [at the break – yes there is one]… no one bothered to look out the window, because the cats were just so cute.” The cat train is so successful, in fact, that its mission was somewhat undercut. “I don’t think the cats even knew they were on a train, and frankly, neither did we.”
Would you travel this kitty cat express?
