Purr-fect Spots for Cat Lovers in Japan

Posted on 02/02/2024 Last updated on 02/02/2024

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The history of cats in Japan spans centuries. Over a thousand years ago, they were kept as pets by members of the upper classes. They have featured in Japanese mythology as everything from shape-shifters to monsters to symbols of good fortune. And statistically speaking, anyone with even the slightest familiarity with social media has somehow seen a cat in Japan.

So Japan is definitely a hotspot for Cat Whisperers, Crazy Cat Ladies and Feline Aficionados from all over the globe. But where are the best places you can experience the cats of Japan short of actually owning one? Here’s my purr-sonal picks!

Cat Cafés

A typical Cat Café. Photo by Alexnewworld on Pixabay

This first one is a no-brainer. Cat cafés（猫カフェ） have been trending for quite some time now, but Japan has some of the best cat cafés, hands down, and this is coming from a person who has worked at a cat café and been to several others in the past. While the “MoCHA” cat cafés are part of a popular franchise in Japan, my best tip for people who want all the cats to themselves is to go to a cat café that is not as “mainstream”. That’s right! This is because the popular ones will always be full, and there will be too many humans in those cafés. It will be difficult to bond with the cats or even befriend a specific cat when there are all those pesky people trying to steal them away from you!

So, the following is a list of cat cafés that should help you avoid this problem:

Just be careful they don’t share your meal! Photo by vedanti on Pixabay

• Cat Café Calico in Shinjuku
• Neko JaLaLa in Akihabara
• Asakusa Nekoen
• Iyashitei Hogonekochaya in Shinbashi
• Neko-no-iru Kyuukeijo 299 in Ikebukuro
• PuchiMarry in Kyoto
• Edo Cat Café in Tokyo

These are only a few that I would personally recommend, but I am sure there are more fabulous cat cafés out there where you can make new feline friends while enjoying a warm drink or sweets.

Cat Islands

On these islands, cats rule. Photo by 暇・カキコ on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

If you are someone who prefers the company of your feline friends over your human ones, and you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the café experience, then this is the route for you. You’ve probably imagined a life where you only need to interact with cats.

Whenever you feel like you need to get away from all that human-related stress, then pack your bags (don’t forget the cat food/treats/toys) and plan a trip to one of these cat islands. There are some popular ones in Japan that most people will know if they’ve done the research (i.e. googled “cat islands japan”), but here is a more comprehensive list:

• Aoshima (Ehime prefecture)
• Tashirojima (Miyagi prefecture)
• Enoshima (Kanagawa prefecture)
• Manabeshima (Okayama prefecture)
• Okishima (Shiga prefecture)
• Muzukishima (Ehime)
• Sanagishima (Kagawa prefecture)
• Iwaishima (Yamagushi prefecture)
• Aijima (Fukuoka prefecture)
• Aishima (Fukuoka prefecture)
• Genkaishima (Fukuoka prefecture)
• Kadarashima (Saga prefecture)

Cat Temples and Shrines

If you cannot afford to go to the cat islands (since most of them are in the more rural areas), then going to a cat temple or shrine is another alternative. One of the most famous ones is Gotokuji Temple in Setagaya.

At these cat temples or shrines, it is not uncommon to see lots of maneki-neko statues and ema plaques decorated near the entrance of the temple or the gift shop.

The maneki-neko or “beckoning cat”. Photo by angelsover on Pixabay

Visitors can write wishes for their cats on the ema plaques and hang them up in a special area. As someone who has 16 cats back in my hometown, a cat shrine or temple is definitely going on my “Top 10 Places to Visit Before I (or My Cats) Die” list. There is also another smaller cat shrine in Asakusa called Imado Shrine, which also has a gift shop where you can buy omamori (good luck) charms for your cat.

The Legacy of Japan’s Celebrity Cat, Tama

Pay your respects to Station Master Tama. Photo by Takobou at the Japanese language Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

This cat is so famous, she even has her own book! And the book is available in several languages too. My younger brother even found a copy in Malay somewhere in Malaysia (where I was born), so this cat’s fame is no joke.

Tama was the station master of Wakayama’s Kishi Station from 2007 to 2015. Unfortunately, Tama recently passed away in 2015, so her fans can’t visit her anymore at the station, but we can still visit her successors, Niitama and Yontama. There are even special trains named after Tama, like ‘TAMADEN’. If you are planning on visiting Kishi station to meet these very ‘busy’ station masters, I suggest you check their working schedules first. More information on their schedules should be available on the official Wakayama Dentetsu site: https://www.wakayama-dentetsu.co.jp/en/

These are only some cat-themed attractions in Japan, but there could be many more out there waiting to be discovered. If you are a tourist with a feline family member waiting for you in your home country while you are travelling, or if you are a long-term resident in Japan who wants to have a pet cat, but cannot afford to have one yet due to your current accommodation type, then you simply have to check these spots out! They’re the next best thing to having your own nine-lived family member!

Now that the cat’s out of the bag on the best cat places in Japan, why not find your own? For more information on how you too can experience Japan, read all about the job of an ALT !

Photo Credits:

Top photo: ネコのめしつかい on PhotoAC

1 – Alexnewworld on Pixabay

2 – vedanti on Pixabay

3 – “Cats in aoshima island 2” by 暇・カキコ licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. (cc-by-SA-4.0). No changes or alterations were made. Wikimedia Commons Link

4 – angelsover on Pixabay

5 – “Station-Master Tama” by: Takobou at the Japanese language Wikipedia , licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Subject to disclaimers. (cc-by-SA-3.0) No changes or alterations were made. Wikimedia Commons Link