By Alexandra Samuels

Copyright dailydot

A woman went viral on TikTok after warning travelers to Japan to skip the animal cafes while they’re there.

User @kyokoemi said there are plenty of reasons to avoid them “at all costs.” “PSA: remove the animal cafe from your Japan itinerary!” she wrote in the text overlay of her clip.

She explained that the animals are often confined to tiny spaces, which can cause them to become aggressive and lead to injuries. The constant flow of visitors leaves them “extremely stressed,” she said.

At the Owl Cafe, she added, the owls are “being chained to branches and kept awake” despite being nocturnal so they can “interact” with customers.

She also referenced a TikTok post of a girl who said she visited a penguin bar, where the animals were reportedly “kept in a small dirty room.”

@kyokoemi claimed that even cafes with domesticated animals, like dogs, aren’t necessarily better. The content creator said they often don’t get enough enrichment or exercise and can get easily overstimulated by crowds.

“There are some ethical ones that promote the rescue of cats and dogs, but please do your research beforehand,” she warned. “Animal welfare is not the best in Japan.”

As of Friday, her video had racked up more than 218,900 views.

Are animal cafes inhumane?

Many Japanese animal cafes are far from humane, especially those featuring wild or nocturnal animals like owls and hedgehogs. Animals in these cafes are often crammed into tiny spaces far different than the landscape they’d be used to in the wild and forced to interact with visitors, with bright lights shining on them at all times. That can leave them stressed—or worse, aggressive.

Owls specifically, as @kyokoemi pointed out, being kept awake during the day messes with their sleep cycles and can even hurt their health over time.

Indeed, some spots seem more interested in giving customers a cute experience than keeping the animals comfortable. There are even reports of sedation or extreme confinement just to make the animals more “compliant.” Add in the constant human contact, and it can also raise the risk of spreading diseases.

Signs a cafe may be unethical include tense or shaking animals, noisy environments, lack of resting areas, and a focus on wild species that aren’t suited for captive social settings.

To be sure, not all animal cafes are bad. The more ethical options often partner with local shelters for adoptions and provide space to hide, proper food and care, and a calm environment where visitors can enjoy the animals without causing distress.

Before visiting any animal cafe, research is key. There are plenty of reviews online, so it’s easy to see for yourself whether an establishment prioritizes welfare over profit.

Visiting an ethical animal cafe—of which there are a handful of—can still be fun, but it’s essential to make sure the animals’ well-being comes first. Please do your homework and don’t assume all cafes are as cute as they look on TikTok.

Commenters echo the woman’s concerns

Many viewers who saw @kyokoemi’s video couldn’t believe people would willingly visit cafes that keep animals you’d typically only see in the wild.

“How do people hear ‘owl cafe’ or ‘penguin cafe’ and not get an immediate red flag that it’s WILDLY unethical?” one person wrote. “When will humans stop abusing animals for our own entertainment?”

“I made my family skip all of these,” another said. “So glad. It made me so, so, so sad.”

“You mean to tell me the Polar bear cafe is unethical?” a third commenter quipped.

@kyokoemi there are too many Japan travel/tourism guides (esp for osaka discoveries and tokyo animals) that feature animal cafes/ pet cafes but they are so problematic!! this applies to any animal activities like zoos or pet shops too… there’s so many other activities to choose from (also seeing a lot of seoul animal cafes etc recommended) #japantravel #japanlife #japantourism #animalcafe #animalwelfare ♬ Fish In The Pool – Frozen Silence

Others shared their own experiences, saying they were just as bleak as @kyokoemi described.

“I went to an owl cafe because I didn’t know better,” one user admitted. “The owls all looked so stressed out. [I] felt so freaking bad.”

“Seeing the otter outside the otter cafe in Harajuku made me so sad,” another added.

Some warned that cafes aren’t the only places to be cautious about when it comes to animal treatment in Japan.

“After going to the Ueno Zoo, I’ll never do anything related to animals in Japan,” one viewer said. “After I saw the polar bear, I left early. I did not need to see anything else.”

“People need to be very careful about zoos and aquariums, too!” another warned.

“Don’t go to zoos in Japan! There are like two actually worth your money … the rest you’re just supporting aesthetic animal abuse, it’s so depressing,” a third viewer said.

The Daily Dot has reached out to @kyokoemi via a TikTok comment.

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