Conveniently located inside a huge shopping mall close to Okayama's central train station, this branch of the popular cat-cafe chain is bright and airy, looking onto a garden area on the mall's fourth-floor terrace. The interior consists of a long, L-shaped playroom that's well set up for playful chases from one end to the other, with plentiful seating for visitors.

There are a total of 23 resident cats, each with its own Instagram account should you wish to follow their daily lives. The cats are all quite photogenic, with many exotic breeds like Norwegian Forest Cat, Scottish Fold, Ragdoll, Munchkin, Minuet, and Maine Coon. Despite their pedigrees they seem a bit friendlier than average, although as with any cat cafe the best times for feline interactions are weekdays when it's less crowded.

A good number of cats will be napping at any given time, so if you want to see all the residents awake and active you might want to time your visit to catch their daily feeding times at 10:30am and 7:30pm. When it's not mealtime cat treats are of course available, and the lolipop-style treats (sold for a pricey Y550) are extremely popular. [Continue]

Rio has a large playroom full of cute puppies, and since the admission charge is incremented in ten-minute intervals, it's easy to just drop in for a quick visit. Maybe because of the cafe's popularity, the pups seem to be a bit more jaded than other dog cafes we've been to, but with a little patience you can usually make friends, especially if you spring for dog treats.

There were nineteen dogs on duty when we visited, most of them small breeds, and they all seemed to be well house-trained (no doggy diapers in view, unlike many cafes), although there was a bit of cleanup activity from time to time. Gigantic rawhide bones for chewing are a very popular attraction, even for the tiniest dogs. [Continue]