Kuma No Te Cafe (Bear Paw Cafe)

The cutest cafe that cares about employee emotional health

The innovative Osaka-based Kuma No Te Cafe, or Bear Paw Cafe in English, is designed to help people who are recovering from various emotional disorders to slowly adjust into society.

The one-of-a-kind cafe opened this fall in Uehonmachi City, Osaka. What’s unique about it is there are no tables, chairs or counters. Instead, there are two holes in a grey wall, one on the left for making an order and paying for it, and the other on the right for receiving it. But it’s not a human hand that passes down your order through the right hole. It’s the hairy paw of a bear! Only the paw can be seen, with no humans in sight!

The people operating the bear’s hand are students of Mental Support General School in the Umeda area of Osaka, a facility that provides various counseling for those who suffer various emotional disorders. The students who work behind the scenes in the cafe all have emotional disorders from which they are gradually recovering. The fact that they don’t have to come face-to-face with the customers while working at the cafe creates peace of mind for them. Moreover, it’s convenient for the customers too, they can avoid excessive contact during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are many people with mental disorders today who find it difficult to work comfortably in the stressed environments we so often come across these days. U.S. gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka are just a couple of examples of people who have spoken out about their depression and mental stress. Having ten years of experience treating these kinds of people suffering from emotional disorders, Mental Support General School realized that there weren’t enough workplaces suitable for them.

The school put Kuma No Te Cafe together as a stepping stone for rehabilitation. With the mission of expanding its initiatives to create a place where emotionally sensitive people can take on new challenges and reintegrate into society, the school hopes it can expand its idea and create similar shops in other prefectures in the future. It sounds like a lot of fun to receive a drink or an ice cream from the bear’s fluffy paw!

Originally published on Zenbird Media.

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(updated 31 May 2023)