I never saw a skinny or desperate cat. Confident. Quiet. Fat. These are the traits
I noted. It’s a Lucky Cat’s Life on the streets of Tokyo. Or so it seems.
What really happens is this: someone invests tons of money to keep a cat, until
one day they have to move to a new apartment. They’re told “no cats,” and the cat
goes into the street, still fed and cared for. Until the Animal Control people take it away
to be gassed. Women collect cats off the street and display them at busy intersections,
pleading with pedestrians to save a cute cat from this fate.
Silent, sad-looking men bring food to parks, where a single cat will accept their offering.
No surprise that the AIBO and the NeCoRo sell so well, even at 185,000 yen.
Cat translators (called Meowlingua, though cats in Japan say “nyaa”) ceratinly caught a wave.
The poor sullen neko and its former owner have much to share about their sad, seperate fates.