When it comes to taking my wife out somewhere it’s usually a pretty easy choice and generally revolves around animals. I’m beginning to run out of places now having finally ticked hedgehog cafe off the list of places to try. The main reason everyone goes to this place is naturally to see the hedgehogs. Of Course! The title of this post gives away my reason for wanting to go there though!

One of my friends posted some pictures on Facebook from his time at this cafe a few months prior to our visit and I was most surprised to see one featuring a fennec fox. From that moment on I knew I had to go there for an ‘On The Fox Trail’ special! On a busy day back in May we set out to visit Harry’s Hedgehog Cafe in Roppongi.

Harinezumi (literally, needle mouse!) is the Japanese word for hedgehog and so the place name is surely a play on words. It’s located just a few minutes away on foot from exit #3 on the Ginza Line and is in a very quiet part of Roppongi. The entrance fee is 1400 yen for just 30 minutes which is a little expensive but as something I’m not likely to do again (unless visitors I know want to go!) it’s neither here nor there really.

There is a self-service drinks machine but very few people seem to even bother with it. After a few minutes downstairs, we soon headed up to the first floor (or the second floor if you’re American or Japanese!) to check out the fennec fox. There were already a few people up there handling the hedgehogs but wandering around the floor, just like a dog, was Sana-san who is a one year old fox.

With his thin boney body and distinctive big ears he was more popular than I thought he would be and getting near him proved quite difficult. Not good in a place where the restricted minutes were passing by very quickly!

Eventually I managed to get a staff member to assist in giving me the chance to hold the fox for a minute or two (below) which really was a joyful moment for me. I was told that he likes his ears being played with and of course I couldn’t resist stroking the tail too!

There are also other Harry stores in Harajuku and Yokohama but I chose the Roppongi one because of the fox. The hedgehogs themselves (below) were cute and it was interesting to watch them playing in their boxes. Of course I picked one or two up but not for long as it didn’t really feel right to be handling such delicate creatures.

The downstairs area had some hedgehogs but it’s probably more of a rabbit zone with the star of the show being a huge dog-sized one which was remarkably only six months old!

The hedgehog cafe wasn’t even the start of our day in Roppongi as prior to that we had lunch at Malins Fish & Chip restaurant (below) which is quite close by. This place has been around for a few years but I still had never been until this particular day back in May. It was great to savour a taste I’ve not experienced for many years now but I was a bit disappointed by the size of it all though that may be down to it being a smaller (and cheaper) lunch option.

Once we were done at the hedgehog cafe we wandered by the giant spider (below) and onto Roppongi Hills to watch ‘Isle Of Dogs‘ (2018) or ‘Inugashima‘ as it’s known in Japan.

There was a quick stop in Shibuya to change from the metro to JR but not before a quick look around which did include Bar Foxy (below). This is a small bar that can accommodate only 18 people and sells drinks at around the 1000 yen price mark. A little expensive in my opinion but to be fair it was never gonna be anything more than a photo stop on our way home!

Amazingly the fox-theme didn’t end there as my brother-in-law’s family came round for dinner and my fox hat and piggyback costume were both used playfully.

After dinner seemed the perfect time to eat two special edition flavours (cheese and chocolate) of these animal biscuits (below) which had been sitting in the cupboard for a while just waiting to be consumed. Amazingly, there were a few fox ones in both boxes!

Click on the links below to read previous ‘On The Fox Trail……’ posts…

Zao Fox Village (Miyagi)   Fushimi-Inari Shrine (Kyoto)   Oji (Tokyo)   Saijo-Inari Shrine (Okayama)   Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin (Tokyo)   Osaka   Toyokawa Inari (Aichi)   Kasama Inari Shrine (Ibaraki)   Haneda (Tokyo)   Motonosumi Inari Shrine (Yamaguchi)   The Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre   The Oji Fox Parade (Tokyo)   Keihin Fushimi Inari Shrine (Kanagawa)   Tokyo’s Most Hidden Shrine!