Recently, a "penguin bar" opened in Tokyo's Ikebukuro. It's not the first. There are at least three others. Does Japan really need all these penguin bars?!
Besides booze and food, these establishments have live penguins that swim, waddle, and eat dead fish—as penguins do (though, usually not in bars).
According to MyNavi, the newest penguin bar is Tokyo's The Bar In Which Penguins Are Present (Pengin no Iru Baa or ペンギンのいるバー); however, there are other Penguin watering holes, including Penguin Bar Fairy in Okinawa Prefecture, and Arekey Dinning Bar in Nishinomiya (near Kobe), and Bar Little Feat in Kobe.
These bars have been around for years, and a couple of them appear to be under the same management.
At these bars, the animals are behind glass and patrons can watch the penguins while enjoy boozing it up at the bar or having dinner. Depending on the establishment, there is "feeding time" in which the patrons can interact with the critters and serve dead fish to the penguins.
While this might sound neat to some, on restaurant review site Tabelog, one patron described how feeding the penguins caused a loss of appetite...
Others seemed to enjoy the penguin bars. "There are really penguins at this bar," wrote one Twitter user. "So cute!" Cute, maybe, but surely there are better places for these animals than late-night bars with drunk people.
東京都池袋に、本物のペンギンが歩きまわる「ペンギンのいるBAR」オープン! [MyNavi]
Photos: 沖縄移住～なんくるないさ～アラフォーブログ, Penguin10, Knoll_Knoll, Alissa in Wonderland, Samemoon, ヒトサラ, Tabelog, muny_seaotter, ルイ, miso_ny, momoiroco, Xeonic_mirroR, ダンサガ
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