Picture a quiet island village where cats sun themselves on every step, doze on fishing nets, and trot down to the dock to greet each arriving boat. People are scarce. Cats are everywhere. This isn't a cartoon. It's Aoshima, a real island in Japan's Ehime Prefecture, better known as Cat Island.
The cats got there thanks to fishermen. Aoshima was once a busy sardine-fishing village, and fishermen brought cats along to control rats and mice on their boats. Many of those cats stayed and multiplied. As the fishing faded and people moved away, the cats kept the island. As of December 2024, about 80 cats shared it with just four human residents.
From Fishing Village to Cat Kingdom
Aoshima was uninhabited until 1639, when 16 families relocated there and built a village. It grew into a sardine-fishing community with a little farming on the side. In 1945, roughly 900 people lived there, and the number of households peaked at 165 in 1960.
Then the sardine catches dwindled, and jobs drew people to the cities. The island's elementary school closed in 1979. By 2013, only about 50 residents remained, and the numbers kept falling. In 2018, a local newspaper reported just 13 people, with an average age over 75.
A Feline Population Boom
With few people left to manage them, the cats thrived. Between 2015 and 2018, the cat population was reported at around 120 to 130. News outlets reported cats outnumbering humans by six or even ten to one, and the ratio climbed even higher as elderly residents passed away.
The cats are fed by food donations sent from all over Japan, along with snacks from visitors and small animals they catch. Visitors arrive by ferry from the mainland port of Nagahama, a trip of about 35 minutes. Aoshima has no real tourist facilities, and feeding is only allowed at designated spots.
Why Japan Has So Many Cat Islands
Aoshima isn't alone. Japan has several cat islands where felines outnumber people. On Tashirojima, residents once raised silkworms and kept cats to chase away the mice that threatened them. The island even has a small cat shrine, and it draws around 40,000 tourists a year despite having only about 60 human residents.
Cats show up in local folklore, too. On Tashirojima, a cat accidentally killed by a fisherman is said to be buried at the shrine, and its spirit is seen as a guardian that brings big catches. Other islands have their own quirks. Sanagishima is known for photos of cats leaping across a gap in a harbor wall, and residents of Yushima have put up signs pointing tourists to favorite cat spots.
A Bittersweet Future
Aoshima's story is now a gentle and somewhat sad one. In 2018, as the human population shrank, the island began spaying and neutering its cats to slow their numbers. By October of that year, 210 cats had been treated.
Today, all the known cats are over seven years old, and many have health problems linked to decades of inbreeding. Collapsing abandoned houses have closed some roads. Observers expect that Aoshima may one day have neither people nor cats.
For now, though, the island's cats still bask in the sunshine and wait for the ferry. It's a sweet reminder of how closely people and cats have lived together, and how long a little fishing village's companions can outlast the village itself.
