There’s no evil mayor, they didn’t get banished, and they don’t have canine flu… but in every other way Aoshima Island in Japan is Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, but with cats 🐈

Oh, also these guys don’t have to fight for food because they’re adorable and tourists are feeders 🐟 But they 100% roam the island in bitchy cliques 💅

On Aoshima Island cats outnumber people 36-1. Think, hairball tumbleweed and very scared fish.

Say konnichiwa, to Cat Island...

Aoshima Island is only one mile long but the tabby population is at biblical plague-level ⛪

Cats were brought over to get rid of the rodents that were camping out on fishing boats 🐀 The cats won the war, and celebrated by getting in onnnnnnnn…. A lot 😳

Now there’s only a handful of fishermen, a few retirees, and a shit ton of cats on the island.

They live in abandoned houses (there are many), sun themselves by the harbour, and get fat from visitors and locals feeding them 😺

On an island where cats outnumber people 36-1 it pays to have some rules in place 📜

All the locals ask is that:

• The cats are fed in the designated area - it’s by the community centre
• Visitors don’t wander into private buildings
• Take your rubbish with you
• Don’t crowd round the dock - people are still fishing here
• Don’t over-feed the cats. It makes them sick

Good things never come easy, and an island of cats is a very, very, very good thing 😻 But getting here is a massive ballache...

First you’ll need to get to Ishinomaki - a seaside town about 4 hours from Tokyo ⛵ Driving is your best bet or you can get a gazillion trains.

Once you get there take the bus or taxi from Ishinomaki Station to the Ajishima Line-mae. Hop on the Ajishima Line ferry terminal and it’s an hours cruise over to the island.

Totally worth it for a real life Isle of Cats.