Discovery News reported that relief organizations tried to bring supplies to Cat Island by boat, but had to turn back due to the amount of debris in the water. Cat Island les in the harbor off the city of Ishinomaki, which is one of the towns hardest hit by the tsunami.
At last report, volunteers were attempting to organize a military helicopter to airlift supplies to the island's elderly population, and hopefully cat food as well.
Cat Island is, in a nutshell, an island which is devoted to cats. Cat Island's actual name is Tashirojima, and it is located just off Japan's western shore.
Although Cat Island used to have more people, its human population has dwindled to less than 100 people, most of whom are elderly. In the island's past, its residents raised silkworms and engaged in fishing by net. Mice are a big problem to silkworm ranchers, and so the island's cat population was encouraged, in order to keep the pests down. At the same time, the fishermen helped feed the cats, by tossing them some of their unwanted catch.
It became a bit of good luck to feed one of the island's cats. Fishermen (ever a superstitious lot, in any culture) began to look to the cats to predict the weather and fishing luck. The cats were allowed into the island's taverns, where they begged for scraps, and were fed by patrons.
As the cats' popularity grew, one fisherman accidentally killed an island cat with the rock weight from a fishing net that he was repairing. Guilt-stricken, the fisherman buried the cat's body and built a little shrine, which has since become a tourist destination of its own. Other shrines were built elsewhere on the island, which now has what Wikipedia drily refers to as "an unusually high number [of shrines to cats] compared to the other prefectures."
No dogs live on Cat Island, and dogs are essentially prohibited from visiting. However, human visitors are encouraged. Travel to Cat Island is via a ferry which is quite popular, especially during the summer months. Tourists come from all over Japan (and the world) to visit with Cat Island's feline inhabitants, take pictures, and distribute snacks. One of the island's most famous residents is Droopy-Eared Jack, who has been featured in several movies about Cat Island. Many of the island's visitors go on package tours devoted to "looking for Jack."
Japan's aging population has created a phenomenon called "terminal villages," towns where there are too few young people to perpetuate the town once the older generation departs. 83% of Cat Island's human residents have been classified as elderly, which means that Cat Island has officially been designated a "terminal village."
Even disregarding the earthquake and tsunami, Cat Island's future remains somewhat uncertain, for who will be left to feed the cats, once the island's elderly have passed away?
Photo credit: Flickr/rahen z