--- title: Moomin Cafe Opens In Tokyo for Eating With Stuffed Animals description: A restaurant in Tokyo found an alternative to eating alone: Place single diners at a table with giant stuffed animals. Much less awkward. canonical: https://time.com/80133/moomin-cafe-stuffed-animal-for-single-diners/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-29T04:00:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:12.166Z og:title: Café tries to make dining solo less awkward with stuffed animals in seats og:description: It's in Tokyo. og:url: https://time.com/80133/moomin-cafe-stuffed-animal-for-single-diners/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Café tries to make dining solo less awkward with stuffed animals in seats twitter:description: It's in Tokyo. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Restaurant Tries to Make Dining Alone Less Awkward by Seating Patrons with Giant Stuffed Animals by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 29, 2014 4:00 AM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 29, 2014 4:00 AM UTC Ever feel self-conscious eating out alone? [Moomin Café](http://firstwefeast.com/eat/anti-forever-alone-cafe-provides-stuffed-animal-dining-companions/) in Tokyo has recently gone viral because gigantic stuffed animals are seated across the table from solo diners in an attempt to reduce any discomfort. > [](https://twitter.com/socarolinesays/status/460742406821150720) [Waiters enthusiastically pair](http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/04/19/with-the-stuffed-characters-of-the-moomin-cafe-youll-never-dine-alone/) parties of one with characters from a Finnish picture book series. While a dining partner that looks like a hippopotamus certainly won’t make your table any less conspicuous, will you really be worried about other people’s opinions when you have this punim resting over your pancakes? > [](https://twitter.com/decouvertokyo/status/358309321282580480) Some of the meals appear to be inspired by the stuffed animals, too: > [](https://twitter.com/decouvertokyo/status/357883259872497664) This restaurant might even be more magical than the [cat cafe that opened in New York](http://time.com/77688/new-york-cat-cafe/). ([h/t: _First We Feast_](http://firstwefeast.com/eat/anti-forever-alone-cafe-provides-stuffed-animal-dining-companions/)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/80133/moomin-cafe-stuffed-animal-for-single-diners/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/80133/moomin-cafe-stuffed-animal-for-single-diners/"},"headline":"Restaurant Tries to Make Dining Alone Less Awkward by Seating Patrons with Giant Stuffed Animals","datePublished":"2014-04-29T04:00:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:12.166Z","description":"Much less conspicuous","url":"https://time.com/80133/moomin-cafe-stuffed-animal-for-single-diners/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society","Food & Drink","viral","Japan","Tokyo","Culture","eating"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/80133/moomin-cafe-stuffed-animal-for-single-diners/","name":"Restaurant Tries to Make Dining Alone Less Awkward by Seating Patrons with Giant Stuffed Animals"}}]}] ```