Nyah and Shah Toshiko Hashimoto tell us the story of Nyah and Shah. Let’s listen to her words: It was over a dozen years ago when I was living an easy life alone in an old wooden two-roomed apartment that must have been about 40 years old at the time. One midsummer night, a sound emanating from the backroom suddenly woke me up. “An intruder!” was my first thought. Turning on the light fearfully, I was amazed to see a mother cat and a small kitten of the brown tiger variety emerging unexpectedly from a closet. Then I remembered that …

NiNi Frisky confides: When I think about it, in my childhood I wanted to become a cat. Not a human, a cat. I can’t make myself a reason to be human, and every day I imagine with envy how it would be good if I became “like that”. When I say “like that”, it is true that at that time I did not see the difficult conditions of cats and their way of existing attracted me as a living being, by their appearance and their way of being. NiNi Frisky loves all animals, but cats are really special to her. …

Junro Okumura wished to show a part of the city where men and cats lives together in symbiosis through the pictures he proposed for his project presented in Neko project. A special project to arise our consciousness about the changes in Tokyo city but it could be true in any big cities of the world. Let’s discover this unforgettable project: Nowadays cats disappears in Tokyo City. They are losing their territories at the expense of the successive new building developments in the city, and one could give several other reasons such as the natural decrease due to the numerous sterilization campaigns. Nevertheless with the organization of …

Yuki Shintani tells us the story of the cat in attached picture: Shortly after its birth, this cat was attacked by a raven and lost one eye. But among a sibling of 6 cats born at the same time as this cat, the hurt cat was the strongest and the liveliest. So when looking at the cats that are born in the street, the stray cats, we can be pessimistic but it is difficult to really anticipate what they will become? »   Yuki Shintani adds : In this cat’s remaining eye, we can see a reflection of the city and its …

George Tsukamoto remembers this quick encounter and tells us the story: I took this photo in Minatomachi, once I went there to photograph the sea and the boats. I was looking for beautiful places at the time of evening light, best for photos, when, suddenly, on the other side of the wall, a head of a cat emerged. Our eyes connected to each other. I was surprised on my side but he seemed astonished too, he had wide eyes and we were keeping watching each other. As he kept his eyes on me, I did not move. I aimed my …

Shuuhei Takeno tells us his encounter on Ainoshima Ainoshima is a cat island about an hour from Hakata city. The cat, who was greeting me over there, was sunbathing and grooming. He didn’t run away even when I was pointing my camera towards the cat. I could feel almost the sadness of the cat who was staring at me as he was also taking a picture of me.    © Shuuhei Takeno   www.flickr.com/photos/124897435@N08 hanayoridango1916.wixsite.com/

Michiko Soeda explains us how she comes to photograph cats… I like cats and for me who do not have children, I consider the cats who live with me as my own children. Then it’s to keep track of them, of the cuteness of “my own children” that I started photography. After a while I did not limit myself to my own cats, I went out to photograph straycats outside, in temples and shrines, in parks and cemeteries, in the shopping streets and on the roofs of dormitory towns, in the alleys of old neighborhoods and in vacant lots. Cats …

Nohagi Naka chose to tell the beautiful story of Totsumi. Let’s listen! This cute cat I met in the mountains of Noto curled up against my camera and against me when I photographed her. When she was scratching her little head, I could hear the cat speaking into a “meow”. I learned a few minutes later that she was a survivor. The inhabitants of the neighborhood told me that this kitten had been abandoned a few days earlier. When I offered her the yoghurt I had, the cat ate it with all her strengths. Then she joined my house and …

Mai Ishida tells us about her personal experience of how she came to do this cat photography project: Masao, my well-behaved cat has been living with me since 2011. When I point the camera towards Masao, the cat poses in front of the camera, and when I’m depressed and lying in the sofa, the cat licks my face.Masao grew by my side and has always taken care of me.  When in 2014, I got sick, I had to rest for three months and stayed in bed.  Even though I did not feel well, I had to prepare for the cat …

Emi Shimamura explains how she takes cat photography: The photos of cats I take are slightly different from the photos I usually take. Until now I have tried all kinds of ways to photograph but nowadays, I often take cats from the back. The reason is that most of the time I am alone with the cat and I have a particular intimacy with the subject of my photography, only the cat and I are looking at the same view, which brings me a modest joy, and by consequence it is joyful for the person who will see the photo. …