OSAKA - Japan's cat cafes, now numbering around 300 nationwide, trace their origins to Neko no Jikan in Osaka's Nakazaki-cho district, where founder Yoko Yoshida combined the quiet atmosphere of a manga cafe with the companionship of cats to create what is regarded as the country's first cat cafe in 2004.
The concept later spread across Japan as the country experienced an unprecedented boom in interest in cats, fueled in part by Tama, the celebrated feline stationmaster in Wakayama Prefecture, and the rise of what became known as "Nekonomics," or the economic activity generated by cat-related products and services.
Photographer Hajime Amaki has been photographing cats for around 20 years, taking on work ranging from magazine covers to portraits of household pets. He said cat-related assignments began increasing sharply about a decade ago, around the same period when the number of cat cafes in Japan expanded from only a handful to roughly 300.
Amaki pointed to the popularity of Tama as one of the turning points. Tama was appointed stationmaster of a struggling local railway station in Wakayama in 2007 and attracted large numbers of visitors eager to see her. According to Amaki, cat merchandise and photographs subsequently became popular across the country, helping fuel a wider cat boom.
Katsuhiro Miyamoto, professor emeritus at Kansai University, studied the economic impact of the trend. He said Japan's major cat boom emerged between about 2010 and 2015, with Tama widely regarded as one of its catalysts.
Miyamoto estimated that the economic impact generated by cats reached about 2.3 trillion yen in 2015, as spending on cat-related goods, services and entertainment grew. Cat cafes are believed to have expanded rapidly during the same period.
The roots of Japan's cat cafe industry, however, go back further. Miyamoto said the country's first establishment is considered to have opened in Osaka's Kita Ward in 2004.
That cafe, Neko no Jikan, remains in Nakazaki-cho, a neighborhood of shopping streets and older buildings near central Osaka. Yoshida, regarded as a pioneer of the Japanese cat cafe business, continues to operate the establishment.
Visitors are asked to spend their time quietly and at the cats' pace rather than treating the animals as entertainment. Customers wash their hands before entering and are asked not to run around the room or forcibly pick up the cats.
Yoshida said the main attraction is not food or drink, but simply sharing space with the animals. Cats are free to approach visitors or move away as they please, and customers are encouraged to become part of their environment rather than forcing interaction.
The cafe adjoins Yoshida's home, allowing her to monitor the cats' health on a daily basis while running the business.
Before opening the cafe, Yoshida operated a pet grooming salon at a time when dogs were more commonly kept as pets than cats and opportunities for people to interact casually with cats were limited.
The idea emerged when the demands of her dog-related work left her wanting somewhere quiet to spend her lunch breaks. She began visiting a manga cafe and relaxing on its sofas.
"After going there a few times, I thought it would be really nice if there were cats here," Yoshida recalled.
The combination of a quiet place where people could spend time alone and a space shared with cats became the basis of her business. As Japan's cat boom gathered momentum, similar cafes began appearing around the country.
Cat cafes have also increasingly developed another role by connecting rescued cats with prospective owners.
At such establishments, cats are not simply handed over to anyone who expresses interest. Potential adopters may be interviewed and their home circumstances checked to reduce the risk of animals being abandoned if owners later find themselves unable to care for them.
One cat cafe marking its 10th anniversary has helped more than 1,000 cats find new homes. Its operators said the cafes can provide an effective meeting place when visitors who have enjoyed the experience return with friends or decide they would like to adopt a cat themselves.
More than two decades after Japan's first cat cafe opened in Osaka, the concept has evolved from a novel place to spend time with cats into a space where people are encouraged to respect the animals' independent nature and think more carefully about their relationship with them.
Source: Television OSAKA NEWS
