Animals of Japan
Cat cafes
Cats in temples and shrines
Cats in Shōfuku Temple, Fukuoka
Shōfuku Temple, a peaceful place in Fukuoka.
Cats in cemeteries
I counted around 50 cats over 3 days in Nagasaki. Hillside cemeteries were perhaps their favorite haunt.
Nagasaki’s terraces reminded me of hill towns in the Apennines of Central Italy.
Cats in Hell
Buddhist Hell is Jigoku (地獄), and the same word is used for fumaroles (geothermal vents). Unzen Jigoku is therefore a geothermal field in the hot springs resort town of Unzen, on the Shimabara Peninsula in Nagasaki Prefecture, Kyūshū.
The cats were just chilling in the heat. I wondered whether the smell of sulfur bothered them, at least at first.
They were fed by a man who appeared to be the caretaker of the field.
Cats in general
Dogs
Miscellaneous land and sea animals
For some photos of Japanese macaques, see the short Kyōto hike on the Hiking in Japan page.
