Japanese cat island

The tiny island of Aushima resides 12km from the city of Ozo in Japan and is totally run over by cats! only 15 people live on this island, all retired – and share their living space with 100 cats, which gave it its name – the Cat island.

With the absence of population monitoring, the cats have been multiplying non stop for the last decade, but only lately did the island became a sensation on the internet and a wanted tourist location. Even though it has no hotels, restaurants or any other attraction but the cats.

In the days of World War 2 the island was a place for people who ran away from the horrors of the war. those came to the island with their pets and made their home. in his prime this cat island had 655 people in the 1960s, though – lots of them abandoned the island for work in other cities. They abandoned their house and their cats, so a lot of the domesticated cats was left in the abandoned houses and streets. the cats multiply and filled the streets with furry families.

15 of the cat island’s residents, ages 50 to 80, most of them retired – say that their tailed neighbors could be quite the hassle once they enter their homes, but their number raised in such way that its impossible to handle. due to popularity of cat photos online – lots of people messaged the city council of Ozo asking guidance on how to reach the “cat lovers heaven”. people from all over Japan, from Hiroshima to Yamaguchi are planning to go to this cat’s temple.

The only way to reach the cat island is by using a shuttle that goes once a day from Ozo to Aushima and back. “every week a lot of tourist arrive, even though there is nothing in cats but cats”,  said Lau-Yu Nuez, who probably did not understand that the cats are the real attraction of the place.

The residents of the place are worried from the sudden raise in tourism to the island. They think that if Aushima will continue to be a popular tourist location – they need to take care of order and cleaning the place, to take care that people wont over feed the cats, and more.