Kayabukiya Tavern

The Kayabukiya Tavern (居酒屋 かやぶき, izakaya kayabuki) is a traditional-style Japanese "sake-house" restaurant (izakaya) located in the city of Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, Japan.[1][2]

The tavern's owner, Kaoru Otsuka, owns two pet macaque monkeys who are currently employed to work at the location.[3] The first monkey, twelve-year-old "Yat-chan", is dressed in a shirt and shorts while he takes customers' drink orders and delivers them to the diners' tables.[3] The younger macaque, named Fuku-chan, is currently four years old and has the main duty of bringing the attendees hot towels to clean their hands before ordering drinks.[4] Fuku-chan has only two years of experience, while Yat-chan has been reportedly performing the job for a longer time.[4]

Both monkeys receive boiled soya beans from customers as tips for their service.[5] The monkeys' environment has been inspected to ensure proper treatment of the animals;[6] due to Japanese animal rights regulations, they are each only allowed to work for two hours a day.[1] The restaurant was also featured as a reward for the winning team in the third episode of Season Two of I Survived a Japanese Game Show.

The tavern was abandoned after the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami. The monkeys still belong to the owner. The current state of the tavern and the monkeys was documented in a 2014 movie by artist Pierre Huyghe.[7]