The Sad Reality of Japan's Famous Cat Island | Aoshima

Karma is a cat 🐈

Si chiama "eugenetica"....😥

Es cruel tenerlos así desamparados, sin recibir el cariño de nadie, solitos.
¿y en las noches de invierno dónde duermen? Ellos sufren mucho el frio. Inevitablemente enfermarán.
Y son tan bonitos y cariñosos.

¿y permiten adoptarlos y sacarlos de allí?

I know I’m a bit new here but why aren’t the cats wearing masks?

Seems like a golden opportunity for an entrepreneur, if you can negotiate nothing down for rent until business picks up! I can imagine restoring those buildings into a bed and breakfast with gift shop...

People know about cat island from the stories, even if they haven't visited, but based on how undeveloped things are, I can see why we only saw those initial stories and no followups. It would be a really fun project to calculate how much it would cost to fix things up and keep things running with a few employees and a govt redevelopment grant (not unheard of in Japan).

Perhaps this is just naivete but with automation and alternative energy I think it can be done. You can grow some things on the island with a vertical greenhouse, and for the rest use freezers. Daily sweeping can be aided with robots. Chlorine bleach can be generated with salt and water, and cooking can be done with electric appliances. After the initial cleanup there just needs to be anough revenue to keep things running. A total restoration is not necessary and in addition to being a cat sanctuary / tourist trap it can also serve as a historical site to note how these fishing villages used to be...

also the only way off cat clown island if you got the red sand and are now enthralled to protect it via fight or flight, the only way off is to drown yourself.

The"V" cutted ear cats are castred .

Leave the cats alone. 🐈 they look happy & content. Why try to extinct them?! Rascals! How would you like it if humans were extinct?!

So how do locals live? Just fishing?

It's nice tourist place to visit but why the visitors are tieing bands ,belts, friendship band, They are becoming tight in there neck. Cats may get suffocated and die also.

I will miss the cats forever once this island is fully abandoned even though im chinese not japanese 😿

Cats are people.

i like cat

It's so sad to see abandoned towns. People lived, worked, played, loved, made memories there.

Can me and my gf move there? We’ll watch over the cats :,)

This island isn’t in Japan. It is Crimea.

There is surely an opportunity to make the world famous Cat Island a tourist attraction. sad to see it going to ruin, although the cats seem happy enough it is a shame they may be the last generation. Arigato, thanks for sharing.

If/when the last person leaves/passes away I hope someone does a rescue effort for the remaining cats before they die from starvation.

i love cat

I think you just should spend your day fishing there.

I visited Tashiro-Jima, which is the second most famous cat island near Sendai, in early 2020. It suffers from a lot of the same issues as you have mentioned in this video but it has had tourist infrastructure at some point. There were some places we had seen on google maps such as a tourist office, a shop and a cafe but all of those except for the shop were closed down. The shop only sold a few items of food (biscuits and crisps) and had fallen into disrepair, it was quite sad to see but the lady running the store was lovely. The cats were taken care of by locals well enough to the point that tourists coming to the island should not feed cats (it would interfere with diets I believe). The overall trip was interesting but it really wasn't this cat-lover paradise the tourist guides/blogs make it out to be. I don't know how it is these days, google maps says there are some places and cafes to visit nowadays.

man just tell why and the start of the video

Why don't they try a way to get government funding to sustain the Island?. Petition to have declared a national park etc...

It gets lots of tourism year round right?

Lastly, the island should charge an admission fee for tourists to enter the island.

The island's resident don't seem to have much work to do and this can help them with that as well, to help with their income.

Can anyone answer why none of these things have been done?

I’m skeptical of their ability to capture all the cats (and prevent any other introductions). Probably it’ll keep being a cat island, even more so if it becomes completely depopulated.
Depending on how many tourists there are the regular ferry service might continue, but even if it doesn’t regular and/chartered tours most certainly will.
And Japan has at least 2 other cat islands besides this one, and tens of thousands of little islands like this one.
If the prospect of no one living on this particular island makes you sad, by all means move to Japan and live there. But the reality is in a country that is so beautiful and interesting, this one fishing island isn’t all that remarkable, comparatively.

I’m glad they fixed the poor cats

So you've got an entire island with less than 24 really old people living there that's about to be abandoned... sounds perfect to set up a private island retreat.

😭

if you want to see city of cats, you sould visit istanbul. We feed all kind of animals including illegal immigrants. 😏

I hope by "mark in their ears" you didnt mean the chunks that looked cut away...that would be incredibly cruel. 😟

Making this island into an official tourist spot comes with added responsibilities and cost. Once you start making a profit from visitors, you are then expected to also make sure all the health needs for the cats are being kept. Having all of these outdoor cats comes with a ton of problems, like parasites. Vaccines and visits from a vet will be needed, which is expensive.
Right now, the island residents are doing their best with what they have and with donations. It's very different that owning a business.

cats can start making babys at 4mo old

Cats are pests that need to be dealt with

That's sad...

You know if there was ever any wildlife on that island it is completely erraticated now thanks to the uwu so cyoooooooot lil murderers we love so much.

i thought there must be at least 1 cafe on the Island that produces homemade mizu-soup in an old stove oven ?
#

That’s breaks my heart.. I remember seeing cat island in a video while I was in high school.. wanted to visit but I’ve never had the opportunity, now it’s going to be a part of history..

Their cat guide wasn't a guide... it was desperately wanting to get adopted! ONLY SIX permanent residents on the island?!? So six people versus hundreds of cats... even the CATS knew they were in a bad spot on that note! This is the thing I LOVE MOST about cats, they ARE semi-independent but darn smart to boot and even the cats knew on the island with their limited six permanent residents? TIME to FIND and OWNER! As they were serious slim pickings! ANY new human visiting? Yep... cats begging you to take them. Why wouldn't they? EVERYONE who visits FEEDS them. The cats have been conditioned to expect all that visit to feed them so in reality? Why wouldn't the cats want to go back with those 'strangers' that feed them? Especially seeing how there's ONLY six permanent residents? Even cats are NOT THAT STUPID! So a seriously sad story for sure and double sucks because I know Japan? Also loves it cats but most? Don't have the honest living space to do a cat justice? Reminder, animals need real living space in a country where most residents? Living in spaces barely bigger than most American's sheds... Let's just say it's CRAMPED and me? Sucks living in an efficiency, ESPECIALLY a one room one meaning exactly that... ONE ROOM, bathroom and shower is PUBLIC for the floor.

So in a way even in America? I'm living exactly like most Japanese people save my actual living space is probably twice as big... which isn't saying much when the Japanese living space is actually is extremely small to begin with. I'm living in a 12 foot by 12 foot room which is HUGE by Japan's standards.

But STILL considered in my personal opinion? TOO small for a house cat. BELIEVE me I WANT one.

Would December be a good time to visit? I wonder what should I bring for those poor kitties..

DAMN your girlfriend is cute.

Charming video.
And thank you for the "warning" :)

i feel like having you bring back your trash with you is a great thing. less work for the locals and easier for everyone in general.

i bet there is not a mouse alive on that island

La respuesta para el niño "si comen pescado, pero en muy baja medida, carne roja como pequeños mamiferos, blanca como las aves y serpientes es lo mejor para una dieta balanceada"

You know, there are many places with a lot of cats, especially ports in warm climate. Although sad, this isn’t any different or unique then any other half abandoned village in Japan.

I'm thinking of going. When does the ferry leave Aoshima island? The sign seemed to say 2:30pm, but I'm not sure.

my only goal in life is now to create a new cat island

Im so glad they neutered all the cats so they can live out their days in peace and their won't be a bunch of abandoned starving cats once the island is uninhabited by people.

Super informative video, thank you!

yep its an amazing thing....there is no native wild life as there are so many cats they kill EVERY THING.