The Tokyo Chapter: This little piggy

They say that since people are waiting longer and longer to have kids in Japan, people often find companionship and nurturing needs met by pets instead. So you would think that pet ownership would be at an all time high here. But, according to Gallop polls, it has actually been declining for the last 10 years. In 2018, only 27% of homes owned a pet including cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, and more - often siting strict housing rental agreements, time commitments for proper care, and the emotional burden of loosing the pet. But the desire for animal companionship is still there.

Cat cafés became really popular for those looking for some feline fun in Tokyo starting in 2005, and have only grown from there. Since we fit into the "really want a pet, but our housing agreement forbids it" category, we are always looking for ways to hang out with animal babies. We visited a owl café earlier this year, which my son still talks about.

So, after owls, what is next? How about pigs? Micro pigs, in fact!

A new shop, Mipig Café, opened in Meguro on March 1 of this year. You pay ¥800 for 30 minutes of enjoying pig interaction, plus you have to buy a beverage for ¥500 or ¥800, totally between $12 and $15 per person. Kids are allowed, which isn't the case for lots of animal cafés around town. Since it is a new café, reservations are a must!

We arrived at the café shortly before it opened at 10 am, our appointed reservation time. The café is broken up into 4 levels - the entrance and kitchen, a living room styled room with a carpet and floor furniture, a lounge with tables and chairs, and an attic featuring couches. The pigs are all potty trained (which apparently is really easy to train them), so they aren't worried about having carpet.

After washing our hands and removing our shoes, we adorned the provided slippers and were seated in the living room. As soon as we sat down all six little tiny piggy's came over to my husband and son. Four of them quickly climbed right up onto my husband's lap, which made him laugh. The other two sought out pets and affection from our son.

I couldn't get over just how cute the little micro pigs were. They were all about 3 months old. Eventually they will grow to about 40 kg, or 88 lbs. Micro pigs (which are just small pot bellied pigs) live between 15 to 20 years and are incredibly social animals. They love to be pet and brushed, which is why they immediately came scrambling to start their day of affection.

We were expecting to hear squeals and oinking, but instead heard a lots of gum smacking, which sounded like they were chewing on rubber. For me, it only added to their sweetness, but I'm sure it would be annoying to some people.

The piglets didn't want to leave my husband or son, so we quickly invited everyone else in the room to come over. We didn't want to monopolize the time, and we weren't supposed to pick up the pigs to pass them around. After a couple minutes, they wandered from person to person with ease. My son got a hair brush from the little box under our short table and soon found himself very busy brushing pig after pig.