Ojika, a Japanese 'Cat Island' Featuring Lots of Friendly Furry Faces

On Ojika Island, my morning walk to Goen Island Inn features lots of adorable friendly furry faces.

As I arrive, I notice tiny scruffy Kinako, a small runty orange kitten, snuggling with his friend Naomi right near the doorway. Each time I’ve arrived in the morning since it's gotten a bit colder, I’ve noticed that Kinako is snuggling with a different one of his friends. 

Kinako has a brother named Anko, who is quite a lot bigger than him, and you often see him cuddling with Kinako as well. In Japanese, きなこ “Kinako” means soybean flour, an ingredient that is often used in desserts. あんこ “Anko” is the Japanese word for red bean paste, which is also a delicious dessert ingredient that is popular in Japan.

A few days ago, I spotted Kinako in exactly the same spot giving his friend Peach a massage. Since it’s gotten a bit colder lately, Peach was wearing a fluffy coat, and she was purring loudly in enjoyment.

Pukka is the “boss cat” at Goen Island Inn. He’s absolutely lovely with all of his human friends, always meowing adorably and asking for a few strokes, but since he’s the dominant cat of the group here at the inn he isn’t very nice to any of the cats who dare to try to eat before he does. They’ll probably get more than a “bop” with his paw, it will probably include a few claws and some teeth.

Tama, the black and white friendly fellow, is probably the cuddliest of the bunch. I’ve had many lovely moments with him, as he is completely overwhelmed with happiness if you decide to pet him and give him a few strokes. If you do this, he’ll probably start meowing loudly in appreciation, rub his face all over you, and roll over so you can pet him on his belly too! 

Naomi is a newcomer to the pack. She’s tiny and mainly white, with multicoloured spots, and I first spotted her as she meowed loudly from the top of a concrete fence. She’s a lady of extremes, at times she’s super cuddly and at other times she’s very solitary and prefers to perch herself alone somewhere to feel the ocean breeze.

In terms of food choices, Goen Island Inn’s cats are all extremely spoiled. Unlike back in my homeland of the USA, where dry cat kibble is what most house cats receive, this group of cats gets to eat all the leftover sashimi! Since the inn serves a lot of fish everyday to customers, and there is always a bit leftover, these cats don’t go hungry. In fact, they have so much fish to eat, that sometimes they eat their fill and there is still quite a lot left. A bowl of raw fish with a collection of cats just sitting idly nearby completely satisfied, is not something you see everyday. 

Away from the Goen Inn, on a walk around the main street, I regularly see cats roaming the streets and ducking down thin alleyways, alongside beautiful Japanese buildings that take me back to a time long ago. It’s beautiful to realise that no matter where I am in the world, this place will still be rolling along, time passing much more slowly than almost anywhere else, and a few cats probably cuddling on a nearby window-sill. It will always be a peaceful memory to go back to.