Japanese restaurant caters to those who love reptiles

At the Yokohama Subtropical Tea Restaurent in Japan, reptiles aren't on the menu; they're staff. It's a tea room for reptile lovers, and they have a mini zoo set up where people can get up close and personal with cold-blooded animals.

The 42-year-old Nagano opened Yokohama Subtropical Tea on the 4th of July and not only has his cafe proved popular, it's attracted an unexpected variety of customers, some of whom stay for up to 5 hours! Nagano was also surprised to note that many of his customers were women who enjoyed talking about reptiles. One supposes that apart from the zoo, there weren't many places where reptilophiles (is that a word?) can go to share mutual interests... until now. At present, Yokohama Subtropical Tea hosts as many as 30 different reptiles and amphibians including 11 different types of newts. It also boasts a “free range” area at the back of the cafe where tortoises can roam about within a fenced area. Customers may touch the tortoises but afterwards are obliged to use the hand sanitizer on-hand, so to speak, for that very purpose.

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