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Shimamori · (This post was last modified: 04-01-2021, 09:40 AM by Shimamori.)

All Honshu Network:
News and Entertainment from the Eastern Jewel of Kusari

Konnichiwa! Ishikawa Ayumi desu. You are watching "Ikiru michi" (//"Way of life") on All Honshu Network. Today we offer our viewers to embark on an extravagant journey to an “alien” island, where humans are no masters and the felines rule. Welcome to Nekojima - a tiny kingdom of cats on Honshu!

Overview

Nekojima, as its name suggests, is a cat island. There are no permanent human-dwellers on it, although there are always countless tourists visiting the island. Despite this, the felines still outnumber humans 7 to 1 with a healthy population of approximately 50.000. Located 30 minutes from the coast of the island of Shimada, Nekojima is a popular tourist destination on Honshu and in all of Kusari. Originally created as a copy of the famous Fujiwara cat island on Kyushu, Nekojima grew into a unique and famous attraction in its own right. Today, we will investigate its history and what it offers now.

Nekojima's shore

History

Nekojima did not exist until 413 A.S. as an island. Until then, it had been a relatively shallow part of the sea known as Shimada Spit. It all changed when an extravagant tycoon from Shimada, Uehara Mana, decided to manifest her love for cats in creating her own island with cats. Her idea to create a cat island is traced back to the first famous cat island in Kusari - Fujiwara cat resort.

Manegineko

From manegineko, a paw-shaking cat dolls welcoming money and prosperity, to cat cafes and popularity in the media - cats have always been an important part of Kusarian culture. In 160 A.S. during the settlement of smaller islands adjacent to the primary planetfall location on Kyushu, one of the explorers as a joke left a group of cats on a small island of Fujiwara as a part of the local ecosystem. The island was of no industrial or agricultural significance due to its rocky surface and lack of mineable resources. When in 164 A.S. a group of ecologists set foot on the island again they found a small sprawling colony of cats who, apparently, became the apex predators on an island populated mostly by small rodents and reptiles. The first generation of cats still familiar with humans showed amiability to humans and readily came to the researchers in search of food, gently purring and allowing to scratch themselves. The researchers decided to monitor the island for felines’ population dynamics for research purposes. When just two years later their research paper on the cats was released, the island attracted the attention of the local media who were searching for a story. The images of friendly purring cats taught to eat from hands by the researchers immediately became a local tourist sensation. The true tourism boom occured, however, much later - in early 300s when the more developed space infrastructure allowed numerous tourists from New Tokyo to arrive. Familiar with farming and domestic animals on day-to-day basis Kyushuans showed more restraint regarding the cats. To Tokyotes, however, a small peaceful island filled with cats was in drastic contrast to densely populated and filled with skyscrapers New Tokyo. Recognising the potential harm resulting from uncontrolled tourist flow, the local administration decided to turn Fujiwara cat island into a resort with no permanent human presence, thus banning hotels. Visitors were still free to visit the island but only during the designated hours to preserve the ecosystem and regulate humans’ impact on it. Despite stricter regulations, Fujiwara cat resort remained a very popular one of a kind destination within Kusari. While there were numerous cat parks, cat cafes, cat centres, there surprisingly was only one cat island.

Cat island as seen from space (magnification)

In 413 A.S. the exclusivity of Fujiwara cat island ended. Uehara Mana, a food industry tycoon from Honshu, literally created an island in the shape of a cat's head and populated it with cats. Being one of the richest women in the history of Kusari, she had all the resources and capabilities to carry out such an unusual project. Uehara was known as a cat lady for the majority of her life since her husband died when she was 42. After visiting Fujiwara cat resort in 408 A.S., Uehara became obsessed with creating something similar closer to her home on the island of Shimada on Honshu. Just finding an island to inhabit it with cats was not enough for Uehara’s need for extravagance, and thus she hired terraformers to literally create a whole new island in the shape of a cat's head. Seen as a quirk or madness by many, the local authorities welcomed the project in hopes of possible benefits resulting from tourism in the future. Besides, they did not need to spend a yen - all they needed to do was to give permission. A suitable spot was found not far away from the island of Shimada in the relatively shallow waters of Shimada Spit.

The elusive dune cat

The island “construction” began in 409 and was finished in 411. During the next two years, fertile soil was imported to support local flora and the island was introduced to various biomes from arid deserts to lush jungles, which were placed in different parts of the cat's “face”, and buildings for the staff taking care of the island. Finally, in 413 Uehara moved her summer residence to the island together with her countless cats in addition to many other cats imported from everywhere. Even the rare dune cats and jungle ocelots were introduced to the island. Unlike Fujiwara resort, Nekojima was never meant to be a sustainable biome on its own - the local feline population would live relying on humans in support of the ecological balance, maintenance of the infrastructure such as cat houses, etc. Most of the food the cats would receive from the humans, too, in realisation of Uehara’s image of benevolent care about her beloved pets. This allowed to keep the felines friendly and approachable, something that would define the island’s future.

In 423 Uehara died of old age. Despite protests and pleas of her heirs, over 30% of her wealth was given to a fund that would support the island after her death. One of her relatives, Mariguchi Tomoko, still managed to get a piece of this inheritance by convincing her aunt to appoint her, then 25 years old graduate of the Finance Department of New Tokyo University, the chair of the fund in question. Young Tomoko who used to often spend free time with her elderly aunt and her cats was seen as a “relative soul” by Uehara and was an agreeable candidate for such an appointment. Whether Mariguchi’s care for cats was a calculated play or a genuine attitude remains a mystery, but it certainly was her financial counselling that led Nekojima to what it is today.

Since Mariguchi Tomoko de facto took over the island, it has been turned into a profitable business. In 425 A.S., the island became open to the public. The fund’s financial resources allowed for unlimited scale of development for such a small place, and when the interest of the public soared, it was a matter of a few months before a sprawling infrastructure of hotels, onsen (//hot springs), restaurants, and entertainment venues was constructed. While not being the primary source of income for the Fund which could operate on its interest alone, the additional profits from tourism kept the Mariguchis dedicated to and invested into the island for the generations to come and up to the present day.

Current State

Azure beaches of Nekojima

Nowadays the small island is still of great interest for all cat lovers of Kusari. Interestingly, Nekojima and Fujiwara Cat Resort do not compete as they offer different types of leisure. People go to Fujiwara to observe cats in nature and mostly come for cats alone while Nekojima welcomes people to stay at the local hotels as much as their finances allow and caters for all tourists regardless whether they come for cats or other recreational services. The two islands even cooperate in making “Cat tours” which include visiting both islands in addition to other cat-related attractions all across Kusari.

Nekojima is home to over 50,000 cats of all breeds making it possible for even the pickiest cat lovers to find their feline soulmate. Luckily for them, due to the growing cat population the island regularly hosts sales and auctions for both regular and rare kitties. Don’t know which of them wants to become your Mr. Whiskers? Feel free to explore the island by yourself or as a part of a feline soulbonding excursion led by the local staff. The cats are everywhere - in the shops, in restaurants, in hotels, and obviously outside. Embark on your quest for finding a cute feline friend to take home or simply to enjoy their company while on the island.

The many cats of Nekojima

Looking for something else? Treat yourself (and the cat-guests, if you so desire) at the local restaurants, bask in the sun on azure beaches, meticulously created by the terraformers, enjoy the moment while sitting in a hot spring, or go shopping for souvenirs and locally-flavoured garbs to show off in front of your friends . Surely, there are more to Nekojima than simply cats.

If you get overwhelmed by the cats - do not worry. The island has cat-free zones where humans can verify they are still homo sapiens and are not in some virtual simulation created by an advanced space-faring feline civilisation.

Regardless of whether you are an avid cat-fan or despise the naughty (yet still cute) creatures, it is worth visiting nekojima at least once in a lifetime to experience a big profitable business that was born out of someone’s great love for cats. So great, that it was made sure a cat’s face could be seen from space. Who knows, maybe after the visit your image of cats will change?

If you decide to visit the island, please check the digital resources of Kusari Tourism Service which will allow a traveller to plan in advance their trip and automatically find the transportation and hotel within designated price range. If you have more questions, feel free to consult with the Kusari Tourism Service, its local department on Honshu, or at the Shimada Department of Tourism.

This concludes our programme for today. We hope that you have learnt something new today from our programme, and wish you the best trip whether to Nekojima or other destination. Good luck, stay safe, and be seeing you on Nekojima! This was Ishikawa Ayumi for AHN.

This programme was sponsored by Shimada Department of Tourism of Honshu . Brought you by

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