A Cat's-Eye View of Japan

Tokyo is home to many lucky cats called Maneki-neko! Get your kitty fix at a public bath, a lantern shop and a classical theater. Then, meet them after hours in Shinjuku's Golden Gai bar district!

At the foot of the sacred Mt. Fuji, have breakfast with dairy farm kitties, fish with hungry kitties at a port, and dance at a unique summer festival held by a temple dedicated to cats.

A sacred island with an emerald sea and tropical trees is pure kitty heaven. Scale a wall with rare white kitties, and relax to the sounds of traditional Okinawan music with a black kitty.

Snow piles up in winter along the Sea of Japan. Visit a morning seafood market, play in the snow, admire traditional lacquerware, and enjoy warm mochi rice cake with cute kitties.

Visit the Sanuki region to try a local delicacy loved by cats. Watch a kitty's owner make traditional roof tiles, and stroll around a famous shrine with another kitty.

Visit the city known for its giant Buddha statue to watch a kitty play in the Meigetsu-in Temple garden, then have a nap with kittens on a priest's cushion at another temple along a train line.

Along Japan's famous, clear river, cute kitties are living their best lives. Join 1 kitty on a unique bridge leading to his canoe shop, and take in a lovely sunset with the other cuties.

Visit Japan's popular summer getaway to join a church kitty on his morning stroll through the woods, watch a kitty help make souvenir candles, and play with another in a guest house garden.

On a pilgrimage down sacred trails, follow a kitty through a majestic forest. Meet a hunting master at a 1,300-year-old temple, and wait patiently for homemade bread at a seaside café.

Near Aizu's symbolic Tsuruga Castle, visit a kitty at an old post station, and feast with another at a quaint Aizu lacquerware shop. One more kitty awaits your offering at a 1,400-year-old temple.

Active volcanos bless Kagoshima Prefecture with natural hot springs. Visit a boss cat near an "ashiyu" foot bath, help kitties guard a brewery, and relax with a bath house kitty.

A black kitty sits at a picturesque spot near the beach. Two other kitties are busy greeting people at an old train station, but they always find time to play with the station staff.

Head to the famous Todai-ji Temple before visiting a nun's kitty at the 1,300-year-old Chugu-ji Temple. Visit a Japanese washi paper factory and a plum tree grove for more kitty fun.

Kitties enjoy a Western atmosphere in a port town that's prospered for centuries. Meanwhile, mommies are busy raising rambunctious kittens while another kitty gets spoiled by sea urchin fishers.

A famous pottery town makes cat figurines, but there are real kitties too! Head to Nagoya to visit a coffee shop kitty, then to a mountain town to check out traditional dolls with another cat.

Take in a view of "the Mt. Fuji of Iwate" with a farmer and her kitty, and visit an egg-loving mamma cat that's busy raising kittens in a repurposed traditional home.

Meet kitties in an alleyway in hilly Nagasaki, see a white kitty relax and hunt around Peace Park, and enjoy kitty heaven at Unzen Jigoku hot springs before noisy humans arrive.

See the famous Sleeping Cat carving at Tosho-gu Shrine. A painter's kitty has a special talent! Watch a scaredy cat creep around at another lovely shrine.

A unique trip around the country of Japan with photographer and filmmaker Iwago Mitsuaki, discovering the uncharted charms and customs of regions, all seen through the eyes of cats.

On this unique trip around Japan, discover the lesser-known charms and customs of regions through the eyes of cats! Filmed by wildlife photographe,Iwago Mitsuaki.

Visit kitties and their favorite spots. Relax in an old hot spring tied to a folk character, hide in a limestone cave formed by volcanic activity, and take in the natural surroundings on a plateau.

Kitties in Ibaraki Prefecture know how to have fun. Admire incoming paragliders with one, meet another that's unfazed by swinging golf clubs, and play ball with a territorial kitty.