Monkeys serve drinks in Japanese tavern

We recently told you about the man who is employed to dress up as a monkey to scare away pests from a train station. Well the monkeys clearly didn't appreciate being put out of work by humans, because now they are getting their own back.

A Japanese sake house near Tokyo has hired a pair of macaque monkeys to serve drinks and hand out towels to patrons. The two moneys -- Yat-chan and Fuku-chan -- are both household pets, but are also certified by local authorities to work at the tavern.

The younger of the two -- Fuku-chan -- runs the first shift, where he hands out hot towels to help customers clean their hands before ordering drinks, as is the custom in Japan. The twelve-year-old Yat-chan goes further, and actually serves drinks as well.

"Yat-chan first learned by just watching me working in the restaurant. It all started when one day I gave him a hot towel out of curiosity and he brought the towel to the customer," the 63-year-old owner of the tavern, Kaoru Otsuka, told Reuters.

The two monkeys work for a maximum of two hours per day, and are paid in soya beans.

"The monkeys are actually better waiters than some really bad human ones," said a customer, Takayoshi Soeno.

The restaurateur is not stopping there, however, and has recently taken on three new baby monkeys who he hopes to train up to work in the tavern.

Fears that this will eventually lead to a Planet of the Apes style uprising are, at the time of publication, mostly unfounded.

Also on Asylum: Is a drunken shaming more or less shameful if you're shamed by a monkey? Review the evidence below...