Cat Island Japan

An army of cats rules the remote island curling up in abandoned houses or strutting about in a fishing village that is overrun with felines outnumbering humans 6 to 1. Tashirojima is a small island in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Japan, lies in the Pacific Ocean off the Oshika Peninsula, to the west of Ajishima. This is also known as “Cat Island” has long been thought by the locals to represent luck and good fortune. The island is also known as Manga Island, as Shotaro Ishinomori built manga-related buildings on the island, resembling a cat. If you take care of them and feed well, and treated like kings or as pets will bring wealth and good fortune.  So, it is not an accident that the cats that inhabit have come to be the island's primary residents and most are feral because keeping them as "pets" is generally considered inappropriate; they’re well-fed and cared-for. In 2012, the BBC in the United Kingdom, presented a short television series called Pets “Wild at Heart”, which features the behaviors of pets, including the cats on the island.

Moreover, in the last 60 years or so, the human population of island has significantly decreased from few hundreds to thousands. The cat population is now larger than the human population on the island. The number of inhabitants has shunned the island as it became dominated by felines. The populations which have left have become more protective of the cats. Moreover another interesting that, dogs are not allowed here just to protect cat’s well beings and apparently any dog foolish enough to venture onto an island full of feral cats. Due to cats, the island has become a popular attraction for curious travelers.In 2011, the famous Tohoku tsunami has damage the island, but feline population has become survived and intact and several believe, the island wasn’t destroyed due to cats luck.

In the Period of Edo in Japan, the much of island raised silk worms for their textile needs and they use to kept cats to chase the mice away from their precious silk worms in order to keep the mouse population down because mice are a natural predator of silkworms. Moreover there’s a small shrine known as Neko-jinja in the middle of island. Hence, there are at least 10 cat shrines in Miyagi Prefecture and are also 51 stone monuments in the shape of cats, which is a strangely high number, compared to the other prefectures. Therefore, these shrines and monuments are concentrated in the southern area of the island, overlapping with the regions where silkworms were raised. As a result, the cat lovers come to the island and package tours exactly to "look for Jack" are now available. Thus, Cat photographs contests and exhibitions are now held on the island.