Hi, I'm sorry to burst your bubble. Japanese hedgehog care is widely regarded as one of the worst - and for good reason. The enclosures are too small, wire wheels are often used and the animals are forced to sleep out in the open without any cover. This means they're used to sleeping out in the open and being unprotected, but it's extremely cruel to a burrowing nocturnal prey animal.
Of course this isn't always the case in Japan, but the general care standards are low and the hedgehog cafe is a good example of this.
The hedgehog cafe is a terrible place. Everyone who knows the basics of hedgehog behaviour and hedgehog care will see why. It is essentially a backyard breeder pet shop with the cafe as a cover: they sell hedgehogs and make money by letting people cuddle them in the cafe. The hedgehogs are kept in tiny enclosures with no cover, they are kept with multiple animals in one enclosure, the place is extremely noisy and the animals are handled a lot during the day while they should be asleep (even if they are on a schedule, everything else in the cafe is worse enough already). On top of that, one of their "stars" is a hedgehog they've overfed so much it has become morbidly obese and now they are exploiting it's fatness as "cute".
It borders on animal cruelty.

I'm sorry to tell you this as you're obviously quite positive about the place, but once you look a bit further than just the cute cuddly hedgehogs you'll see why a hedgehog cafe is a horrible idea.

If you are interested in a more natural environment for your hedgehog which is actually hedgehog friendly (by providing enough room and allowing them to display natural behaviour) may I suggest the links in my signature. You can also find some information about it here on the forum.
You can use walnut shells, soil, sand etc. as bedding, I'm personally not a huge fan of walnut shells and prefer a soil/sand mix.

 

I definitely agree that some of the things I saw in the cafe were definitely NOT good: they had wire wheels, seemed to be feeding mazuri's insectivore diet, and had pretty bright lighting, for example. But the cages, though on the smaller side, I think were okay. I keep my hedgehog in a BIG 2x3 C&C monster, of course, but the cafe seemed to be using 50 gallon long aquarium-type housing. The size really didn't seem too bad, and they were kept sparklingly clean, though. Don't get me wrong: I'd never reccomend this type of housing, but for small hedgehogs living there temporarily, it seemed okay. There were also lots of hides in these "rest" cages, and more rest cages off sight (and hopefully in a less noisy area.) Still, though, the animals I saw looked REALLY good. Healthy poops, nice, round-but-not-fat bodies, and very friendly personality. I think getting a hedgehog that's been so well-socialized early in life would make a new-owner's experience much easier, though, which is why I think that (assuming healthy genetics) the hedgehog cafe functions well as a specialty pet shop. I took from the cafe just two things I thought might be worth trying, and they've been pretty good, thus far, but I am glad you brought up the negative aspects of Japanese hedgehog cafes, since, as you said, there are definitely a few things they're doing way wrong.

 

Completely agreed with Draenog. I hate the idea of hedgehog cafes (and all of Japan's animal cafes in general - the only ones that seem like an okay idea at all are cat/dog cafes).

I know you haven't had an issue yet, but I'm honestly really concerned by what you described with the walnut bedding. There are multiple cases of male hedgehogs getting small particle bedding caught in their penile sheath that causes irritation & injury - sometimes even causing the hedgehog to mutilate their own genitals. With the fact that he's masturbating in the bedding & getting it clumped & stuck like you described, I'm really, really anxious that it'll lead to a problem like this for your boy. I really recommend checking out the links Draenog mentioned for bedding alternatives that will be less likely to cause something like that.

The water tank idea does look like a really nice one though, provided someone can keep up with the cleaning! There are similar concepts for birds that might be other possibilities & may be easier to keep clean.

 

Completely agreed with Draenog. I hate the idea of hedgehog cafes (and all of Japan's animal cafes in general - the only ones that seem like an okay idea at all are cat/dog cafes).

I know you haven't had an issue yet, but I'm honestly really concerned by what you described with the walnut bedding. There are multiple cases of male hedgehogs getting small particle bedding caught in their penile sheath that causes irritation & injury - sometimes even causing the hedgehog to mutilate their own genitals. With the fact that he's masturbating in the bedding & getting it clumped & stuck like you described, I'm really, really anxious that it'll lead to a problem like this for your boy. I really recommend checking out the links Draenog mentioned for bedding alternatives that will be less likely to cause something like that.

The water tank idea does look like a really nice one though, provided someone can keep up with the cleaning! There are similar concepts for birds that might be other possibilities & may be easier to keep clean.

Thank you for bringing this up, as I really hadn't considered it doing any harm besides being annoying. As of yet, he hasn't really had any clumped in or around his sheath-- it's usually in his armpit or to the side of "the business". I'm going to try using the walnut shell in just half of his cage (the half with the wheel and food) and leaving the side he sleeps in as fleece-bottomed. If he's able to pull the walnut into the snuggle sack (where he likes to masturbate) then I'll get rid of it altogether, I think.