Cats and Dogs

Cats and Dogs

The shoe factory, and Japan as a whole, decided that November 23, 2010 would be a national holiday to honor all those hard working salarymen (myself included) with a day off. Unluckily for the salarymen they probably have to work twice as hard during the week or come in on Saturday AND Sunday to make up for the lost time. Regardless, I wanted my long, three day weekend to occupy my mind and give me a change of scenery. I decided a one night vacation would do.

I had recently heard about an island called tashiro-jima. I don’t know what that means, but the island is also known as “cat island”. Let me describe it to you. A long time ago, this was a bustling fishing destination. Although the island is only about 5 miles across, many people lived here and many more stopped by on their way out to sea. The island also used to produce silk. They kept some cats as mousers in order to protect the worms from the mice. Over time, the fishermen became fond of the cats always welcoming them home and begging for scraps of fish. They came to realize that the cats were not only good luck, but that their actions could be interpreted in order to predict the weather and fishing conditions. I couldn’t agree more.

Anyway, the island is facing population decline. Everyone is moving to the big city. The island is now home to about 100 people. The youngest is 37, the rest are all over 60. A perfect place for an aspiring old man such as myself. There is no hospital, school or (gasp!) convenience store. A boat comes once a month with gasoline. There are a few inns and markets and that’s it. But, what the island doesn’t have, it makes up for in its stray cat population: there are over 200 stray cats. I don’t know who counted, but that’s the figure I found in my research. Dogs are strictly forbidden. Sounds like a great place to wander around and take pictures for all my loyal fans.

I was beginning to make my travel plans, when I observed the calendar. November 22 was my departure date. I then observed my bank account. The observations were bleak. My life has become a series of TARP bailouts and great depressions; getting paid monthly is very tough. That first week after salary is joyful, I have endless money. The days before the 25^th are painful. I eat white rice three days straight. To complete the metaphor, I usually end up borrowing some cash from my British and Japanese counterparts, who I have named The Royal Bank of Matthew and Mrs. Zaibatsu. That aside, I realized I could not go to Cat island…yet.

I did the next best thing: I went to the cat café!. That’s right, Neko (cat) café. Neko café is a “café” inside of a movie theater. Yes you read that right. Inside this café are drink machines and cats. 12 cats, I think, all of whom are permanent residents. You pay per hour and can drink all the machine made coffee, soda and tea you want. You can sit and read peacefully with a cat on your lap (boring), or run around like a 24 year old idiot American and harass the felines. It is quite spectacular. For 600 I got about 40 minutes or cat pestering pleasure including tail pulling, ear scratching, paper ball/string chasing. I was happy. There isn’t much more to say about Neko café. It is simple and enjoyable.

Where do the dogs come in, you ask? Well in my wanderings, I also happened upon a dog café. This one is a little different. First of all, it is called “Happy Seed”. I have no idea why. Happy Seed sounds like something only a person with a y chromosome could make. Whatever. They have only one permanent resident: a Pomeranian name Koro. He is very friendly, and like all Pomeranians, very stupid. This café makes its money by offering a nice setting in which to enjoy and coffee while your dog gets groomed. Afterward, your dog can play with Koro and also marvel at his stupidity and cuteness. I went to this café also, but it was on a Monday and Koro was the only dog there. There were a few others, but they (or their owners) were only interested in grooming and they left shortly after their services were finished.

While my adventures were not quite as adventurous as Cat island, and its hundreds of cats and, not to mention, it’s near hundred of near hundred year old people, I was satisfied that I got to spend some quality with some friendly animals, see some new places, and meet some new people. Cat island will have to wait until next time. Maybe the population will have thinned a little by then, but I’m sure I’ll still have fun talking to a 90 year old fisherman and feeding the cats.