A Japanese restaurant has taken an unusual approach to employing waiters – they have two trained monkeys who wait on their clientele.

Yat-chan in action

The Kayabukiya tavern, a sake house just north of Tokyo, employs the two macaques to help out their more traditional human waiters.

The macaques, called Yat-chan and Fuku-chan, are tipped by the cutstomers with boiled soya beans.


Yat-chan, aged twelve, is the more experienced of the two – he takes customers’ drinks orders and brings them to their table.

Fuku-chan, who is younger, isn’t up to taking orders yet, but hands the customers hot towels.

Yat-chan brings a beer to a customer



Kaoru Otsuka, 63, the owener of the tavern, originally kept the monkeys as pets – but then noticed how they began copying his actions in the restuarant, and so set them to work as waiters.

Otsuka is currently hoping to train three baby monkeys as the next generation of waiters.