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Episode details

World Service,29 Sep 2023,9 mins

The first cat cafe

Witness History

Available for over a year

The world's first cat cafe opened in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1998. It started with just five street cats. For the first few months they hardly had any visitors. Then a film crew made a TV programme about the cafe, and it eventually became a global tourist destination. Cat cafes have become a worldwide phenomenon. Tracy Chang, founder and owner, tells her story to Gill Kearsley. (Photo: Inside the first cat cafe. Credit: Tracy Chang)

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