Being a mad cat woman (and Mr Foodie a mad cat man) what better way to spend a day of your holidays than at Tashirojima or cat island. (Tashirojima
We bought supplies from the Tommy Lee Jones vending machine, bought our ferry tickets and off we went.
For a day trip to the island, you’ll need to get the 9am ferry.
Tickets bought it was off onto the ferry. The ferry has an open deck with plastic seating plus inside comfortable seats.
The 40 min journey isn’t too bad, you can always play with the seagulls.
The time soon passed and we arrived at cat island.
The ferry terminal has cat prints located around.
You can see the new harbor is being built in the background. It was destroyed during the 2011 Tsunami.
We were then welcomed by a cat ambassador. Sitting beside the cutest barrier ever.
A quick pop into the facilities here, no escape from cats!
We wandered into the village to meet the locals.
The island is pretty but is dying. 80% of the population is over 65. We found this out after stumbling across a disused school.
Approximately halfway between the two ports on the island is a cat shrine.
This guy knew how to work his hoomans!
Back to the village to look at Manga Island, a holiday complex of cat shaped houses.
Here we met some happy and well looked after kittys.
Heading back into the village.
The height of the 2011 tsunami at the other end of the village.
It was soon time to get the ferry back. Our welcome cat saw everyone safely into the ferry.
A sign at the Ishinomaki ferry terminal about the 2011 tsunami. (Ishinomaki
We decided to walk back into town and pass the area destroyed by the tsunami.
Shrine area
view of part of the devastated area.
We wandered on sad.
Completely not expected was Santa.
Standing atop a patisserie.
A birthday cake for Mr Foodie (and some macarons for home). A melon cream cake.
By this point we were starving, so a trip to a Japanese burger joint shouted out to us. Mos Burger Ishinomakiokaido
A cheese Mos Burger, shrimp burger, fries, onion rings and the green drink is Suntory pop. Melon flavoured fizzy drink.
With filled bellies it was time for home. However, with a pit stop at the large 7/11 store to start off buying stuff we don’t need.
The trip to Tashirojima was a lovely day out. Don’t expect to be snowed under with cats. There’s enough to see them wandering around popping out of side streets and bushes to say hello.