Ikemofu is an animal cafe opened in August 2016 in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The name was taken from Ikebukuro (池袋) and mofu-mofu (もふもふ), which means fluffy in Japanese. This cafe gives people chance to meet and even pet some animals that you rarely get chance to see during your normal daily life.
The shop is located in this building, the easy way to find it is to remember the yellow Matsuya (松屋) sign on the first floor.
There is also a sign outside the entrance of the building.
Ikemofu is located on the 6th floor.
This animal cafe offers a lot more different animals than other animal cafes. Due to its variety, it also has two different rooms located in the cafe: The little animals’ room & The owls and reptiles’ room.
Usually animal cafes will ask you to pay an entrance fee to enjoy a limited amount of time with some certain animals, for example owls at owl cafe or cats at cat cafe. At Ikemofu, you also have to pay an entrance fee and it also comes with a bottle of drink, but you will have to pay and book for both rooms if you would like to see all of the animals.
While waiting at the cashier, I was able to peak in the owls’ room’s window and see the Snowy owl!
By the way, the drinks that you can choose from are Orange juice, Coca-cola, Green tea, and Mineral water. All the choices are bottled drinks due to safety and hygiene reasons.
Ikemofu is very popular these days, so do remember to book a time slot online before visiting so you won’t be disappointed.
Finally, it is our turn to enter the little animals’ room!
The moment you enter the room, you’ll see the big star of Ikemofu, Fennec fox, Teto!
He is not allowed to hold, but he will be let out of the cafe at certain times so you’ll get a chance to pet him and see him running around the room 😊
On every animal’s cage, you’ll find the name tag and descriptions of them. And when it says NG it means you cannot choose to hold them, OK means you can ask the staff to put them on your lap for you to hold and pet them.
In the small animals’ room you can also find different type of rabbits,
Meerkat
Prairie dogs
Chinchillas
Marmots, and much more!!
After taking lots of pictures of the small animals, it was finally time for Teto,the Fennec fox to wake up!
The last animal we petted that day was the Flying squirrels! They are kept in a small bag while being taken out from their cages.
Those watery eyes….totally irresistible 😆
The hour went by very quickly and it was time for our time slot to end for the next group of customers to enter. Before leaving, you can wash your hands at their restroom and they also have some souvenirs for you to buy if you’d like.
But to let you know, they are really popular right now, so you may feel a bit crowded when you visit, especially on weekends.
On the day we visited, there were a lot of people and it felt like the staff did not have enough time to help every guest, so we did not get to hold as many animals as we can, but it was a nice experience to meet all those rare animals! In the middle of Tokyo!
We only visited the little animals’ room on that day but I would definitely love to go back and visit the snow owls next time!!
Visited 2016/06
Information
- Address: 1-29-4narita Bld.6F, Higashiikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0013 (〒170-0013 東京都豊島区東池袋1丁目29−4 成田ビル6F)
- Access: JR Ikebukuro Station (池袋駅), East Exit, 5 minutes on foot
- Opening Hours: Open throughout the year ; Weekday: 13:00 ~ 18:00 / Weekend & Holiday (Small animals’ room): 11:00 ~ 19:00, Weekend & Holiday (Owls and Raptiles’ room): 11:30 ~ 18:30. [Last admission is 1 hour before the closing time]
- Budget: They have a one-hour limit. Adults: 1,200 JPY (+1drink) for 1 hour / Children under 12 years old: 500 JPY / To enter both rooms, you’ll get a discounted price of 2,200 JPY
- Payment: Cash only
- Website: Ikemofu (English version available)
- All Images: TabiScarp