At the height of the pandemic, businesses all across the globe were on the verge of closing, including the miniature-railway-themed restaurant owned by Naoki Teraoka in Japan.
Located in the city of Osaka, the restaurant opened back in 2018, and had gained popularity not just for their yummy food, but because of all the miniatures situated throughout the restaurant. Unfortunately for Teraoka and his family, the pandemic caused them to lose business. They were almost on the verge of closing their restaurant for good. Until one fateful day, someone – or better yet, something – came in that would change everything for the better.
One day, a sick cat showed up in the restaurant, and regardless of their lack of funds, Teraoka couldn’t turn the ill kitten away. Instead, he and his family decided to adopt him, naming him Simba. But they couldn’t have known that little Simba would soon be followed by others.
Not too long after, another cat showed up at the restaurant window, who would turn out to be none other than Simba’s mom. Since the restaurant hardly had any customers, but it did have an excess of food, they agreed to take her in as well. Then during one particularly rainy day, Simba’s mom arrived with another three kittens, who were probably also part of the same litter as Simba. Teraoka didn’t have the heart to turn them away either, and ended up adopting them all.
Sooner rather than later, the cats became very familiar with their new surroundings. They would walk around the dioramas, making themselves incredibly comfortable, relaxing and sleeping wherever they saw fit. But what they didn’t realize was that since they towered over the miniature dioramas, they looked more like they were giant “Catzillas” about to attack the city. And if the Japanese have taught us anything with such fictional creatures such as Godzilla, then you know that it’s a niche topic that tons of customers would probably enjoy.
Realizing that this would be an adorable theme for the restaurant, Teraoka decided to take photos of the cats lounging and playing in the restaurant’s diorama, which he would then post on Instagram under the IG name @diorama_syokudou. Before he knew it, he had loads of followers and plenty of customers showing up to the restaurant wanting to see these felines in their new home.
In an article with Bored Panda, Teraoka shared, “It was a financially difficult time for us, but we decided to help the cat family. Yes, we thought we were helping them, but they were the ones who helped us.”
Although the model trains and train tracks are still a major attraction in the restaurant, the true main appeal is definitely the adorable cats. Customers come in and spend up to two hours at a time interacting with the cats while they drink tea. And if a customer is so inclined, they can even adopt one if they want.
Since reinventing the place, Teraoka’s restaurant hasn’t only grown, but he’s since expanded his operations by adding a second-floor cat shelter, as well as a kitty hotel. Now, he tends to get cats that are abandoned, or finds those that are at a high risk of being killed. In fact, he’s even traveled as far as 200 miles to pick up a car for rescue and has since found homes for more than 60 cats while taking over 100 cats from the streets and giving them a place to recuperate, eat and moreover, thrive.
Teraoka admits that while he and his family first thought that they were giving Simba a new lease on life, he was actually the one saving them. And now, the restaurant is not only flourishing, he will never see stray cats as a burden ever again.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
True Activist / Report a typo
