Amazing Hidden Places to Travel in Japan Part 2- Cat Island

Whether you are a cat lover or not, you might be interested in the cat island. This is the island full of cats. There are cats here and cats there, cats everywhere! Now are you curious?

On the way

There are only a few ferries that go to Tashirojima from the closest town called Ishinomaki on the main island of Honshu. That means you need to stay the night before the trip somewhere in this area. I recommend to stay over in Sendai. This is the biggest city in the Tohoku region and you will find every kind of hotel here. 

Make sure to get up early in the morning to take the 1-1.5 hour local train up to Ishinomaki. You don’t want to miss the ferry over to the island. Although Tashirojima became quite famous when it was introduced as “The cat island” in the media and the tourist population has grown, there are only a few boats a day that travel to it from the main island. Only one in the morning.

About the village

When I got off the boat I noticed that this island is obviously a fishing village. I saw some rusty fishing boats at the small port but were these still working? The question came to mind when I read that the population was below 100 (82 in 2015) in Tashirojima. On this island the residents’ average age is in their 70s. But if any industry still exists in this place, fishing is definitely the main industry they have. Because all I could see was that port otherwise abandoned houses in the bushy hills. 

This area in Tohoku was heavily affected by the tsunami in the Tohoku earthquakes in 2011. In Tashirojima a few houses got destroyed, some of the port sank and the ferry didn’t function fully for a while. I went there before the earthquakes and felt sad when I heard about the news as I knew how peaceful this place was.

The cats

When I walked into the hill town with a lot of empty houses, I met many cats instead of people. They were not scared or worried about humans, but relaxed and fulfilled. The interesting part about this is that nobody here tries to own the cats but treat them like they're part of one big family. Cats live outdoors but get fed by random people passing by. Basically they are half-free half-community-owned cats.

There is an old story. A fisherman accidentally killed a cat and felt very bad about this. So he buried it respectfully. After that people caught many fish without suffering from any marine accidents. They started worshipping cats and built many cat shrines. 

Now there are more cats than humans in Tashirojima. It is becoming the true cat island owned and run by the cats.

Wikipedia (Tashirojima): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashirojima

Ishinomaki City: Introduction in Tashirojima

Ferry: Ajishima Line