Markets in everything, Japan edition

Get the double entendres out of your mind:

Lola – or Rora – to give her a slightly more Japanese pronunciation – is a beauty and she knows it.

Customers pay by the hour for her company. Usually they just want to stroke her, but as a special treat for favoured clients, she will lie back in a chair, close her eyes and pose for photographs.

Lola is a Persian cat who works at the Ja La La Cafe in Tokyo's bustling Akihabara district. It is one of a growing number of Cat Cafes in the city which provide visitors with short but intimate encounters with professional pets.

When I called, there were 12 felines and seven customers, mostly single men…

It costs about £8 ($10) an hour to spend time in a Cat Cafe.

Here is the article, courtesy of Marco Haan; other Japanese markets are discussed as well, including the renting of pet beetles.

And no, this next one is not a "sexy" Markets in Everything, but it, via Megan McArdle, is still remarkable in its own way: Quilt with Matching Tote.