Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Serve: Japan’s Kayabuki Restaurant Has Monkeys for Servers

If Darwin's Theory of Evolution is to be believed, then the species closest to man are monkeys. Experiments support Darwin's claims, since monkeys are pretty much the smartest animals out there. Let it be known that I have nothing against monkeys; in fact, I've grown pretty fond of capuchin monkeys since they made an appearance in Brian Vaughn's Y The Last Man. 

However, I definitely wouldn't want my sake or tea or whatever served by a monkey--that happens to be behind a freaky chick's mask, no less.

That's the "treat" you're in for, though, if you happen to be having some sake down at Kayabuki Restaurant in Japan. They currently have two monkeys employed as waiters, Yat-chan and Fuku-chan, who go around taking patrons' drinks orders and handing out hot towels while they wait for their orders to be served.

Bizarre? Yes, but it's Japan, so what did you expect? It's an interesting story though, how the monkeys became waiters. They started out as the pub's household pets, who noticed that his monkeys would mimic his actions when he'd go around serving customers. The owner handed one of the monkeys a hot towel one day, and when it delivered it to a customer, they were automatically hired.

The monkeys only work two hours a day though, which is the maximum working hours permitted by Japanese animal rights laws. And yeah, they actually have that in legislation. Talk about weird.