They may sound like similar style café businesses with different animal customers, but in fact they are standard coffee shops with the unique characteristic that they involve animals. They are both types of cafés so they have common features which include the ordering of food and drinks. So then, what is the difference between them?
Actually their systems regarding the animals are kind of opposite. At a “Cat Café”, cats are a part of the café, in other words, they are the staff of the café to entertain you (though it happens only when they feel like doing so, otherwise they may be just napping there). So, going to a “Cat Café" is almost the same as going to a small indoor zoo with a café that has only cats to show. Visitors are charged an entrance fee and given a short lecture on the cat café's rules by the staff when they enter. People can order food and drinks for themselves or for the cats but they don’t have to.
On the other hand, “Dog Café” means simply a dog-friendly-café where people can bring their own dogs in and enjoy the food and drinks with their pets.
Apparently the origin of this unique “Cat Café” business was started in Taiwan in 1998 while in Japan the “Cat Café” business started in 2004 and has been spreading quickly, especially in big cities.
Since many apartments and rental houses don’t allow renters to have pets in Japan, Cat Cafés can be considered as an oasis for cat lovers. (You can see more writing about "Cat Cafe" on the testimonial page!)
It was a question I was asked by my American friend when I guided her in spring and I thought it was an interesting question that shows a cultural difference.
Yes, actually most Japanese people can tell which flowers are cherry blossoms and which are not immediately although there are several similar flowers, like plum flowers and peach flowers, blooming in the almost same season.
For one thing, it is because cherry blossoms are the most popular flower among Japanese people and every spring people have gone out for “cherry-blossoms-viewing” since their childhood, so people have enough experience to learn about the appearance.
But actually we can tell not only cherry blossoms. When Japanese people go out for a flower-viewing picnic/excursion we usually aim for one particular kind of flower. It can be any kinds of flower, but we wouldn’t aim for unspecified seasonal flowers. With this cultural background, most Japanese people can identify famous seasonal flowers. I guess many examples of traditional art, drawings and designs also help people to recognize each kind of flower.
For example, there have been many traditional family crest designs based on cherry blossoms and plum flowers. I'll show some of them here. The left row is cherry blossom designs, and the right row is plum flower designs. I think it shows very well how Japanese people recognize which one is which between the two kinds. They can’t be completely accurate standards since there are so many varieties of both kinds, but it still can help tell the typical difference between those.
Now, can you tell which one is cherry blossom in the left above picture? I hope you can tell!
