50 Amazing Photos From Cat Heaven Island In Japan

Buzzfeed ^ | 11/25/12 | Summer Anne Burton

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Photographer Fubirai has spent the last five years documenting the lives of the semi-wild cats that roam the island in Fukuoka, Japan. The cats are fed by local fishermen and wander freely through the streets, boatyards, porches, and houses of the city. Heaven.

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Thanks to Gefn for the link!

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[KarlInOhio]

The kitties are just begging to be turned into LOL cats. Please, someone, give the poor kitties some captions.

I love hovercat from #17 and #23.

[Nik Naym]

LOL. Now the kitty ping list is triple pinging.

Ain’t technology grand?

[Norm Lenhart]

The Japanese brothers of the Viking Kitties...The Samurai Kitties. Complete with their own Navy ;)

[ansel12]

One of my favorite reactions from customers is the one where they go, ignore the cat, he/she doesn’t like strangers, and is shy, wellll, that is strange...., normally he disappears when people come over, and he never lets them pet him...

[Slings and Arrows]

Back in my day, we were QUADRUPLE-PINGED, and WE LIKED IT!

[Navy Patriot]

Looks like these are just community cats rather than family cats.

It's not rare for a cat that is allowed to roam, to adopt two families, and "commute".

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The Japanese brothers of the Viking Kitties...The Samurai Kitties. Complete with their own Navy ;)

And considering all the hovercats, their own Air Force.

[Nik Naym]

Well back in MY day if we wanted to triple ping we had to go get some carbon paper and make three copies with that, then we had to take them to the post office, buy 3 stamps and mail them to the same address. And we LIKED it.

[Lancey Howard]

Back in MY day we had what was called a “mimeograph” machine where you stood and hand cranked a big drum until a “copy” of your letter soemhow emerged on a sort of wet, blue-tinted piece of film.

We didn’t even THINK of triple pinging.

[Nowhere Man]

Beautiful kitties there. BTW, my uncle gives money to help take care of the cats at the Coliseum in Rome. He went there on vacation and he fed the kitties while over there. I also remember when he had a Himalayan cat, “Himmee,” he loved him so much, When Himmee passed on, he was so bummed out, he was in a funk for over a month or more. I know the feeling.

[Lancey Howard]

A mimeograph machine, like the kind I used in the school library:

[Rodney Dangerfield]

Great pics, especially the “Peeping Tom” in #45 although they are all fantastic.

I saw a cat for the first time 50 years ago and have been fascinated with these little rascals ever since then.

[boatbums]

Just LOVED the smell of fresh mimeographed test papers in the morning!!! ;o)

[Lancey Howard]

Just LOVED the smell of fresh mimeographed test papers in the morning

Ha! That smell came involuntarily right back into my brain when I google-searched for that picture of a mimeograph.

[2010Freeper]

Some nice cat photos.....but I was not amazed.

[Slings and Arrows]

I will pray for your jaded soul.

[Mom MD]

And the smell was heavenly! Remember getting to turn the handle in school? Then you got to carry a still warm pile of papers back to the classroom-sniffing all the way!

[Lancey Howard]

Then you got to carry a still warm pile of papers back to the classroom-sniffing all the way!

Yeah... huffing all the way... I even got to pour that ink fluid into the thing from time to time.

[angcat]

This made me so happy. Beautiful and healthy they all look.

[CrazyIvan]

I used to work on office equipment and I think you are getting mimeo and spirit duplicators confused. The mimeo used conventional ink and a wax and fiber stencil. The spirit duplicator used solvent to pass purple dye from a master to paper, hence the smell.

[Safetgiver]

I’ll bet that island has a distinct odor.

[Slings and Arrows]

They do!

[Einherjar]

Can we assign the opening tune from Saturday Night Fever to Photo # 19 ?

[green pastures]

Though technically correct, most folks referred to the spirit duplicator as a mimeograph. At least by the time I was regularly reproducing college class handouts as part of my student job in the early 8o’s, everyone in the office called it the mimeograph. Thankfully by then we didn’t have to hand crank, but had an automatic version with a counter that *usually* worked.

On the receiving end, I always preferred true mimeographs because you’d get more legible copies.

These days it would have to be called something else— spirit duplicator wouldn’t be PC for some...

[green pastures]

#19 — “When you’re a Jet...”

[MayflowerMadam]

Oh. Flashback. Every Saturday night when Dad ran off the church bulletin on the mimeograph I had to stand at the end and “slipsheet” — throw in a blank paper between every copy so the next bulletin wouldn’t smear ink.

Before the newfangled mimeo, he did the bulletins on a hectograph. Not even a machine. Just a pan of jel.

Glad those days are over.

[9YearLurker]

Nah, kitties are very clean and bury their poop.

[green pastures]

#16 — “E.T.” or “The Creation of Adam?”

#20 — “If do right, no can defense.” Mr. Miyagi

#26 — “Show me the way to go home, I’m tired and I wanna go to bed...”

#31 — “Wax on, wax off” (I know, I know, 2nd Karate kid reference. My apologies.)

#39 — Siamese, er, um, tabbies

#43 — Gone in 60 seconds

#47 — “I really needed that nap. I’ve been such a basket case lately...”

#48 — “Michael Flatley, eat your heart out.”

[Hot Tabasco]

Cat Heaven Island

Or mouse hell, depending on whose side you're on......

[AmericaUnite]

So few are ear tipped. TNR would help here. The kittens, from the ferals we’ve been trying to trap, had fleas, worms & giardia. One needed a transfusion & 3 days in the hospital. They are so close to catching them & getting them fixed.

[Gefn]

Beautiful kittehs. I wish I could live there. It would be my idea of heaven. Cats are the most amazing critters. I love my girl to pieces. I know it sounds silly to those who have never had a cat (or a dog) but my kitty is truly my best friend.

Re:mimeograph machine, thank you for the memories. I too instantly could smell the fresh scent of papers in the morning. What a great childhood memory! ;)

Glad you all liked the article. Hurray for the KITTY PING LIST! ;)

[Safetgiver]

Yeah but my two guys require a full replacement of litter in TWO boxes every five days or your eyes hurt.

[Bigg Red]

And the smell was heavenly! Remember getting to turn the handle in school? Then you got to carry a still warm pile of papers back to the classroom-sniffing all the way!

***
Preparing the stencil was decidedly not heavenly. Had to use a stylus on a sheet backed by a bed of wax. Very time consuming, especially for me, as my handwriting has never been very nice unless I go very, very slowly.

In the later years of my career, my young colleagues never understood why I brought burnt offerings and praise to the spirits inside my ‘puter.

[wrencher]

“I’ll bet that island has a distinct odor.”

And probably no birds either. Cats are an invasive species that kills for fun and decimates the wild bird population. I trap them in my yard and send them to the local shelter.

[R. Scott]

Cats do like to fly.

[9YearLurker]

Just think of all those wild animals out there peeing in nature—or even a few big dogs getting walked every day.

These kitties are fine.

[mdmathis6]

It’s a real “CAT”mandu!

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#46 — “ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOKITTY!”

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Agreed.

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G-d is utilitarian.

[thecodont]

It's not rare for a cat that is allowed to roam, to adopt two families, and "commute".

Remember the British story of the cat who "commuted" to a distant neighborhood by hopping on a local bus every day?

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Thanks! My kitties are family.

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That they do.

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Yep. Never paid a fare either, the freeloader.