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Published: March 23rd 2018
Kitty Heaven
Jeff with two kitties on his lap. While looking at a map researching places to visit between Tokyo and Kyoto, my eyes honed in on Lake Biwa. Much to my surprise, I learned that one of Japan’s famed cat islands was on that lake. I was wary about such places; I knew that the most famous cat island in Japan was swarming with cats while their human population was in decline, and I suspected that visiting such a place may be somewhat depressing. Nevertheless, I researched further, and found that Okishima Island still has quite a few human residents - about 350, apparently descended from a band of banished samurai - and that the place wasn’t overrun with cats. I knew we had to make a pit stop there.
On the afternoon of March 19th, Jeff and I set off from Tokyo station on a
shinkansen bound for Maibara, where we were to transfer to a local train bound for Omihachiman. Believe it or not, even though this is my seventh visit to Japan, I had never taken a
shinkansen. During the ride, I was surprised that the train never really left urban areas throughout the two hours that we sped west through Honshu.
We arrived
My First Shinkansen
Pulling into Tokyo station. at Omihachiman just before sundown and found our hotel easily. It was clear we weren’t in an area that saw many foreign travelers. Only one hotel staff spoke English, and the hotel restaurant didn’t even have an English menu. We trekked in the rain to the nearby convenience store and bought soba noodles, soup, and sushi (for me) which we ate in our room. After eating, I went downstairs for a refreshing soak in the hotel’s
onsen. The next morning, we checked out early, left our bags at reception, and walked across the street to a bus stop where we waited in the rain for our bus. It turned out that the hotel receptionist hadn’t given us the correct information for the bus, so we went back to the hotel lobby and hung out there for about 40 minutes before heading out again to catch the correct bus. The bus to Horikiri port took about 30 minutes. During the ride, we grew more and more concerned as we watched our fare creep up in real time on the screen at the front of the bus. We paid 710 yen each for this ride.
At Horikiri, a ferry was
The Ferry
The ride from Horikiri to Okishima Island took about ten minutes. waiting to take us across the lake to Okishima Island. Apart from a worker, we were the only passengers on that ferry. The rain had stopped by then, but we weren’t optimistic about seeing many kitties as we figured they would be hiding from the wet and cold.
Arriving at the island, we first made our way to the local shrine which was perched on the side of a hill. We didn’t see any cats en route. The village itself was sleepy; all we saw were a handful of elderly people and some workers who appeared to be working on a soil stabilization project. After the shrine, we headed up the hillside for a bit to get a view of the island. Much of the hillside was used as a cemetery.
After descending back down the hill, we walked through the village along the lakefront. There, we saw our first cat, but it ran away from us. After the inauspicious start, though, it was nonstop kitty love from then on. One grey and white female came to us for some petting. After giving her some love, we carried on down the lakefront and encountered an orange and white
The Village
The village was quiet and sleepy. I suspect many of the residents work on the mainland. male. We gave him some love, and then he followed us as we carried on down the lakefront. Some more kitties emerged after that. I was surprised to see an elementary school on the island. The recess bell rang and we saw about a half dozen students file out. At the school, we heard meowing and a black and white male came out and made a beeline for us. He was the friendliest of the lot; he even let Jeff carry him. In all, we interacted with six cats. We also got to witness a neat slice of life on the island - we saw the lunch ladies delivering lunch to the school, the local postman cycle past, and various people tending their vegetable gardens. After lots of kitty love, we reluctantly made our way back to the pier and took a ferry back.
There were quite a few people on the ferry this time. As we departed, we saw the schoolkids lined up on the lakefront waving flags. We think that a delegation had visited the school and they departed on the same ferry as we did.
Back at Horikiri, we initially walked to the nearby bus
Kitty Love
This was the friendliest kitty of all. He saw us from the elementary school, meowed, and ran across a wet field to interact with us. stop, but some people told us to go to a microbus that was waiting at the pier. We confirmed with the driver that he was heading to Omihachiman, and soon after he set off with just us and one schoolgirl in the bus. We were concerned about the fare; behind the driver, we saw a sign that had 100 yen, 200 yen, 1,000 yen, and 2,000 yen written on it. The rest of the script was in kanji. I worried about paying 2,000 yen each for this ride. Along the way, the bus driver rattled off Japanese words at us, and he and the schoolgirl both laughed. I think he was saying words that he thought we might know. Finally, he said a word we knew -
tamagotchi - and he and the girl laughed even more when our faces lit up. They were clearly having a laugh at our expense but we didn’t mind at all.
When we got back to Omihachiman, we were relieved to discover that the fare was only 200 yen. We bought some food from the convenience store, scarfed it down, retrieved our bags, and took the train to our next adventure - Kyoto.
Our Sendoff
The school kids lined up along the lakefront waving as their guests sped away. .
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A Small Swede in the Big World
Per-Olof Persson
I need...
...to visit one of these islands someday. I don't think I'll manage it on my next visit to Japan but on the one next year I should be able to do it. :)