Neko is simply the Japanese word for cat, written 猫, but in Japan the animal carries far more weight than the word suggests. Cats have guarded temple libraries, beckoned customers into shops, haunted folk tales, run a railway station, and taken over entire islands. Here is a short history of cats in Japan, and a look at the photographer who has spent years following them.
How cats came to Japan
Cats are generally thought to have arrived in Japan from China around the sixth century, alongside Buddhist scriptures. Their job was practical: mice damaged paper and silk, and a cat kept a temple's manuscripts safe. One of the earliest detailed records comes from the diary of Emperor Uda, who in 889 wrote about a black kitten he had been given, noting how it curled into a perfect circle to sleep and how it hunted.
For centuries cats were prized and kept mostly by the nobility. That changed in 1602, when the government ordered cats released so they could hunt the rats damaging Japan's silkworm industry. Cats moved out of palaces and into farms, streets, and harbors, where many of them still live.
Lucky cats and shape-shifters
The maneki-neko, the beckoning cat with one raised paw, is Japan's best-known cat. Several temples and shrines claim its origin. One of the most famous stories belongs to Gotokuji, a temple in Tokyo's Setagaya ward: a feudal lord sheltering under a tree during a storm saw the temple's cat beckoning him inside, followed it, and escaped the lightning that struck where he had stood. Today the figures sit in shop windows across Japan to invite in customers and good fortune.
Folklore has a darker side too. The bakeneko is a cat that changes shape, a legend some trace to cats standing on their hind legs to lick oil from lamps, throwing strange shadows on the wall. The nekomata, a mountain creature with a split tail, was believed to grow from a house cat that lived too long.
Japan's cat islands
There is no single cat island in Japan. Well over a dozen islands are known for large cat populations, most of them fishing communities where cats were brought in to keep mice away from nets, boats, and silkworms. As the human populations aged and shrank, the cats remained.
Aoshima, off the coast of Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku, is the most famous. Around 900 people lived there in the 1940s. By 2018 the island had 13 human residents and about 130 cats, and by 2024 only four people remained. The city of Ōzu funded a trap-neuter-return program in 2018, so the cat population is now declining too.
Tashirojima, in Miyagi Prefecture off the Oshika Peninsula near Ishinomaki, has a small shrine to cats at its center. Islanders once kept cats to protect silkworms, and fishermen came to treat them as signs of a good catch. By one local story, a fisherman who accidentally killed a cat buried and enshrined it, and the cat's spirit became a guardian for the island's fishing. Fewer than a hundred people live there today, while tens of thousands of visitors come each year to see the cats.
If you visit, remember that these are working villages with elderly residents. Follow local guidance on feeding, keep noise down, and treat the cats as the island's residents rather than an attraction.
Cats in Japan today
Cats are now Japan's most popular pet. A 2017 survey by the Japan Pet Food Association found that pet cats outnumbered pet dogs for the first time, a shift often linked to small apartments and long working hours. Cat cafés, where visitors pay to spend time with resident cats, have boomed since the mid-2000s. February 22 is National Cat Day, chosen because 2-2-2 can be read as ni-ni-ni, close to the nyan-nyan-nyan of a Japanese meow. And from 2007 until her death in 2015, a calico named Tama served as stationmaster at Kishi Station in Wakayama, drawing enough visitors to help keep a struggling rail line running.
Masayuki Oki and Neko
Masayuki Oki is a Tokyo-based photographer who has spent years documenting cats in his home city and on islands across Japan. His pictures, shared with more than half a million followers on Instagram as @okirakuoki, catch cats mid-pounce, mid-yawn, and mid-argument, with a sense of timing that turns street scenes into small comedies. His nature photography regularly wins competitions, and he exhibits throughout Japan.
Neko: Cats of Japan, published by Smith Street Books in 2026, gathers his favorite images into a 208-page hardcover: cats holding court on the cat islands, roaming city streets for fish and attention, and settling in at temples. It is a small, warm book and an easy gift for anyone who loves Japan, cats, or both.
Smith Street Books, 2026
Masayuki Oki's photographs of Japan's cats, from the cat islands to temple steps and city streets. 208-page hardcover.
$24.95 View book
Frequently asked questions
What does neko mean? Neko (猫) is the Japanese word for cat. It also appears in phrases like maneki-neko, the beckoning lucky cat.
Where is cat island in Japan? Japan has well over a dozen cat islands. The best known are Aoshima, off Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku, and Tashirojima, off the Oshika Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture.
How many cats are on cat island? It varies by island. Aoshima had about 130 cats and 13 human residents in 2018, and its cat population is shrinking after a neutering program. Tashirojima's cats outnumber its fewer than one hundred human residents.
When were cats introduced to Japan? Cats are generally thought to have arrived from China around the sixth century, brought to protect Buddhist scriptures from mice. Emperor Uda described his black cat in a diary entry from 889, one of the earliest detailed records.
Why are cats so popular in Japan? Cats have a long history in Japan as protectors of temples, silk, and fishing nets, and as symbols of luck through the maneki-neko. Today they suit apartment living, and since 2017 pet cats have outnumbered pet dogs in Japan.
Sources: Japan Society, Wikipedia: Cat islands in Japan, Wikipedia: Tashirojima, Wikipedia: Pet culture in Japan, Japan Today, Colossal, Smith Street Books.
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