Feathered Friends

Owl Cafes.

This is by far one of the coolest things I have been to. They first opened up in Tokyo and very recently mere weeks or perhaps a month ago, they now have a shop in Osaka in Tenmabashi.
Lucky for me, this shop was not well advertised or known about so I could get in no problem. No ridiculous wait or reservations. But I do not expect it to stay like that for long. Once more people realize what and where it is, there will be an insurmountable surge of people coming.

So how it works is well first you either need to arrive either just before the hour, or a bit in advance to make sure to put your name on the waiting list for the next hour. You see, this cafe goes hour by hour. That's right. You have a whole hour to play with owls. Once you get inside, they will give you a few instructions, such as sanitizing your hands and where to touch the owls, and apologizing in advance if they make a mess on your clothing. I'm talking about poop. The head, neck, and back are generally ok areas for petting, but you should avoid the wings, around the eyes and the fuzzy parts of the feet. Those feet. The cutest fluffiest things ever. So ok, you have now been prepped in Owl 101. And now you need to order your drink. This is a cafe after all! You have the usual list of drink choices like coffees, juices, sodas, wine and beer.
And now! Now, you get to play with the owls. They are perched around a fenced in portion of the room. They rest along a fake grass matted perch with their legs roped to it to prevent flying away. So you can just walk up and pet any one of them. There are perhaps 9 owls of a bunch of different species for the 20 or so people allowed in per time. There are more than 9 owls of course, but some are resting and are look-only, and some are babies that are not yet trained and are blocked in by protective plastic.
You can not only pet the owls, you

can also hold them. They will rest on your arm, shoulder, or even head. The staff will help to situate you so that the owls are spaced out from one another appropriately (don't wanting them squabbling amongst themselves now do we?) and will get you the necessary gloves as needed for the larger variety of owl and will help you to appropriately grip the lead.
But what if these feathered buddies take flight? Well, if you are gripping the rope correctly, then they won't be going too far. The safe are always at a helpful distance just in case of these situations. They gently push on the owls chest and lift it to get its feet firmly back onto your arm and into an upright position. No harm done. A misconception that I had was that these beasties would be heavy, but remember they are birds and can fly, and therefore are much lighter than appearances and when they take flight it is not like a tremendous force pulling on your arm. Startling none the less, but it won't be knocking you down.
But if it flies away and you lose your grip on the lead? Well it isn't going too far the cafe is entirely enclosed and there are curtains pulled over the windows. The latter bit is necessary as if any of you have had birds would know, sometimes they just don't know what is window and what is real. So to prevent these majestic creatures from self harm and head diving straight to a window (also to prevent outside eyes from prying and try to give the place a more personal atmosphere and some mysterious allure) all the windows are blocked from view by a type of scroll curtain. And if your beastie got away, the staff are trained in that too. They merely, go fetch it, take control of the lead (which is really long so I can't imagine a situation where it would be unreachable) and cox the owl down onto their hand. It did happen more than once, and was never a problem. The owls were then returned to the people who were formerly holding them instead of being retired for the evening. Which was pretty awesome in itself that the staff did not take away from the experience. This is not to say they weren't retired after our session. But owls are birds. And birds fly. So It is nature for these guys to stretch a little.
Petting session closes about 5 minutes before your hour is up. And the staff are really polite in telling you to take your last pictures and finish your drinks and ushering you out of the fenced area. This gives the owls a break before the next session.
Once you return to your seats, you will find your drinks which are very thoughtfully covered so that no debris from battle will get inside.

Then it is time to pay up and peace out. You drink and the entirety of the session costs a total of 1000 yen. About 10 bucks. You can also peruse and purchase any of their knick knacks they have at hand, or if you are really well off and attached to one of the owls, they are for purchase as well for an incredible price.

Here is another article on the store if you want to read more on it!
http://petslady.com/articles/osaka_owl_cafe_real_hoot_63295

The Sad Stuff

Kind of real post here.

When you go away, you need to know that things will happen. Unchangeable things. People will die. Pets will die. Your parents will move and your childhood home will belong to someone else. Yeah, the backyard fort too. 

You might even feel that somehow this might all be tied to you in someway. You feel responsible for for it and might try to move back. Perhaps you are right. In one of my cases I had a love bird who was pretty young, only 3 years old. And barely that. My sad news of his death came last November. I didn't even get to see him at Christmas. And his death was pretty sudden too. He lacked for no food and no drink and was entertained by another nearby bird. He showed no signs of sickness, but was one day irrevocably dead. I have been gone for years now, but that didn't stop my dream that I was going to go back and pick up things where I last left them. My bird would love me and cuddle me again, my dog would not be an old lady, Gwen would still hate me and the world. Well at least the last one would still be true for now. And perhaps if I was indeed home, it would not have happened, perhaps Goose died from lack of emotional attachment. Who knows really. You can't go back and change it sadly. But moving back now? After the fact? That won't change anything. 

Another sad story was just before my first year ended abroad. It was July 4th and I was in Korea, my grandfather died. Good Ole Granddad, a world war two vet and a model train enthusiast and probably one of the people that convinced me to see the world, had been having lots and lots of trouble lately. He had been suffering cardiac arrests, strokes, arthritis  and I think even his last stroke was so bad it left him in a terrible state where it was hard for him to do much besides sleep. He wasn't really expected to make it too long but I still had hope that he could make it until I saw him one last time. That didn't happen. But our goodbye was perfect and memorable and he was still fully functioning and I am sure he would want me to remember him that way. Being home instead of in Korea would never have changed his condition, but it might have eased his burden a small bit, he wouldn't have to stress and worry about the only adventurous grandchild to go out into the world alone and forget her sword. But either way, it was his time soon. You can only struggle for so long. 

Now my greatest fear is something happening to my wonderful cook of a grandmother. The one who makes me the worlds best cheesecakes every time I visit. The one who would entertain me for days upon days so my parents could get the Christmas shopping done. The only one I have left. I am lucky though that she seems to be in perfect health, weak at the joints, but fine otherwise. Christmas' are still the event of the year. 

The last one I mentioned about parents moving from your childhood home, that hasn't happen yet, and in fact it isn't really even my childhood home, but the one I identify with most (also it is seriously awesome), but they tell me it will happen. They tell me it will happen before I make it back home permanently even. Just another shoe waiting to drop.

And now what has happened to make me write this post. My dog has cancer.

 You might think oh but you still have have time to go home and see her one last time. Sadly I don't. Her cancer is terminal and  it is so rapid that in less than one week it has began and swelled to such a size that for a normal vet to call it inoperable. We will take her to a specialist soon and see what they say, but the future looks pretty grim. It had probably first started with this cell mass that we saw back in November and had removed and then in December, she was coned the entire month. She then had a cracked tooth in mid January which we had to get pulled. And after that, my parents came to visit me in Japan, unfortunately, when they got back at the end of January, just a few days later, the tell tale lump was waiting for them. And it is additionally really sad since we had a vet assistant coming and feeding her and walking her every day since she was on drugs for the tooth while my parents were gone. Since it was noticed it was quintupled in size and spread from her neck to an area just behind her ears. Her time is short and my parents and brother are doing their best to make sure that it is the best possible for her. 

Going abroad you have a choice. You have the choice to leave it all behind and be selfish, experience culture, mentally grow in exponential proportions, and let us not forget, have the adventure of a lifetime. But things will change. People move on, pet move on, your friends will move, your parents. When you go back it will almost be like starting over. You need to properly grieve for everything, miss them, and love them, but not regret anything. So going abroad is not for the weak of will, or overly emotional. But I can promise you, living abroad is not something I have once regretted.