An Interview with the Diorama Restaurant

We say this quite often but we love seeing people who are passionate about what they love and enjoy sharing it with you. At Tokyo Otaku Mode we have many animal lovers who are interested in animal welfare and the different ways we can support caring for animals. So for this issue of the TOM ZINE, we visited a shelter/cafe that’s filled to the brim with cats!

If you walk by the Diorama Restaurant in Teradacho, Osaka, you’re likely to catch sight of several cats lounging in the sunny spots by the window facing the street. Upon a closer look, you will notice that there are many more cats that initially meet the eye. Despite this being a potentially chaotic situation, if you venture inside, you enter a space where the cats are relaxed and more than happy to greet you. Here the staff are committed to creating an environment that is comfortable and safe for the many many rescue cats in their care. At the same time, their whimsical diorama setup and offerings of food and drink also make it fun and relaxing for the customers.

We had a chat with the owner of the cafe Teraoka Naoki, also referred to as “Boss,” by the staff to find out more.

TOM Staff: How did you begin the cafe?

Boss: 7 years ago I had a restaurant that I was about to shut down permanently when suddenly a cat came in.

TOM Staff: Suddenly?

Boss: Suddenly. So we started with four cats.

TOM Staff: Were they all strays?

Boss: Yes. The mother brought her kittens.

TOM Staff: And then you decided to make it into a cat cafe?

Boss: It just happened to become one naturally.

TOM Staff: What’s the difference between this cafe and other cat cafes?

Boss: The shelter part is particularly well-managed. We have a vet and nurses on staff. If there’s any emergency, we’re prepared to deal with it.

TOM Staff: Did you always take care of animals?

Boss: Not at all.

TOM Staff: So you learned how to take care of cats after the cafe opened?

Boss: I hated cats.

TOM Staff: Really?!

Boss: I love dogs.

TOM Staff: So you’re a dog person?

Boss: Yes, but now I think of these cats as my own children.

TOM Staff: What do you like about cats now?

Boss: It’s how affectionate they are with people. I think of myself as their father and they all listen to me. I have so many children now.

TOM Staff: Where do the cats come from? Are they all strays?

Boss: A lot of them come from animal protection agencies. Also, some come in from people with emergencies. Lately, elderly people who are hospitalized or move to nursing homes stop being able to take care of their pets and drop them here.

TOM Staff: That happens a lot in Japan lately. What’s the difficulty of having so many cats to take care of?

Boss: It’s managing each cat’s health. We spend three hours each morning and night checking on each cat’s health, so six hours a day.

TOM Staff: That sounds difficult. Do the cats fight?

Boss: Sometimes. It’s unavoidable.

TOM Staff: How many cats do you have now?

Boss: As of today, 201.

TOM Staff: That’s incredible. What kind of customers do you often get?

Boss: Roughly half of our customers are from overseas. The other half are Japanese.

TOM Staff: What countries do people come from?

Boss: The most is… (he pulls up the data)

TOM Staff: American, I see. You have a lot from Indonesia, too.

Boss: We have a lot from Australia, too. When you see the monthly info, you can see that people come from all over the world, but lately the world has been rather unstable and planes have been stopped, so people make reservations but can’t come in the end, so that kind of thing has increased.

TOM Staff: I saw that you have an adoption event sign outside. Do you have them often?

Boss: Every day is an adoption event here. If customers come here and say that they’re looking to adopt, we’ll allow them in for free.

TOM Staff: So if they find a cat they like…

Boss: That’s right. It’s sad to say goodbye, but that’s our goal.

TOM Staff: Why did you start live streaming?

Boss: Like I said earlier, there are elderly people who can’t take care of their cats anymore so at night, they can see how their cats are doing here. They can keep an eye on them from afar, so I stream nightly.

TOM Staff: You do it every day?

Boss: Yes, every day for the past five and a half years.

TOM Staff: Wow. What’s the hardest thing about streaming?

Boss: It’s not really hard, but with all these cats, it’s hard to make sure each cat gets screen time. I stream for three hours every night.

TOM Staff: If people want to support the cafe, what can they do?

Boss: We receive PayPal payments from people overseas. @DioCat is our account, so it pops up easily. Also, for items, people can buy things off Amazon to send to us.

TOM Staff: You also sell merch.

Boss: The staff makes those.

TOM Staff: Are they handmade?

Boss: Some of it is bought, but it’s mostly homemade. The salary is low, so I use that to give the staff members a bit of a financial boost.

TOM Staff: Do you have a message for people reading this?

Boss: I hope that our activities here will lead people to understand the preciousness of animal lives, so please watch our Youtube channel.

If you want to learn more about the Diorama Restaurant and how you can support their efforts to care for the cats, be sure to check them out on their official website, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok!