At the ancient Yakana Ginza in northeastern Tokyo, cat images are everywhere. The title is "cat town" which holds the capital, where it draws visitors from North America, Australia, and Europe back to tourism, shopping.

They may enjoy cat-shaped cake or place it as their personal cat theme stamp. Yumiko Yamashita, owner of Neco Action, said Yakana long ago had a lot of cats due to the concentration of many Buddhist temples.

"In the days past, they went everywhere, even into the houses of the people, but are now less visible. It's hot so they like to stay in the house," she said.

Despite the heat of the weather making less of the "four-legged residents" appear, the gift shop is still crowded with guests buying refrigerator magnets, postcards, wands, cat-shaped ceramics, and the Maneki-Neko statue (swifting), also known as "the talent trick".

Daniel Cats' talent producer Chugai Toen. Image: Chugai Toen

In the province of Aichi, central Japan, the ceramic producer Chugai Toen has been interested since last year due to new creative cat specimens. Founding 1952, the brand was heavily influenced in the pandemic.

But their recent business activity has recovered, annual sales of about $1 billion yen (6.9 million), making significant contributions by the "Maneki-Neko line". In 2023, they opened Studio894 near the main headquarters, combining sales, display, cafe, and self-painting ceramic cat at a cost of 1,500 yen.

President Chugai Toen Yasuhiro Suzuki said Studio894 had become "one of the major tourist attractions of Seto City". The company aims to raise annual sales to 1.5 billion yen in the next five years.

Not only attracting tourists, cats bring many other consumer bridges, creating the concept that Professor Katharhiro Miyamoto at Kansai University called "Catnomics" or "Catnomics". In the latest "Catnomics" report, he estimated that the cat would contribute almost 3,000 billion yen (18,8 billion) to the Japanese economy this year.

The domestic pet-care industry involves large donations of cats. Over the past decade, cats have passed dogs becoming the most popular pet in Japan. According to the Japanese Pet Food Association, households raised about 8.8 million cats in 2025, compared with 6.8 million dogs. Each cat is fed on an average of 1.8 million yen (11.300) during the animal's lifetime.

Businesses began to pay attention to business potential when the number of pet cats first crossed the dog in 2014. This development is thought to be due to demographic changes. The aging population and the stream of people who stream to the growing urban centers means less time and space to feed dogs.

Computing estimates on the scale of the ecosystem producing food for cats, spending at the cat cafes and photos of cats, Professor Miyamoto argues that the economic impact of cats is near the equivalent of the Osaka 2025 World Expo event, "shows significant contribution to the Japanese economy".

Get out! [ Guests taking photos of the same cat before a store in Japan. Image: Pexels](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAACH5BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACACAACAACATATATATAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

  • The customer took the same cat in front of a store in Japan. Image: Pexels*

The cat was given to have appeared in Japan from the Nara period (710-794), when Japanese ambassadors brought them back from foreign trips to the Tang House in China. Many were adopted by the temple to protect the Bible from rats.

This role gives them special status, even occult colors. The Japanese also consider cats to be the leading vegetative natural organism, easy to achieve a calm and separate state, which takes a lifetime to pursue but is still difficult to achieve.

According to author Stephen Mansfield who resides in Japan, cats live in "means", meaning in the present moment itself. "Not minding the past or the future, their minds may be much less chaotic than we are," he described.

Today, celebrities who love cats in Japan may refer to the emperor, the Queen, and Prime Minister Sanae Takichi. Largely attached has turned cats into major businesses, from pet industry, tourism to marketing, publishing. The country has a day of "Cat Day" on 22/2.

According to Bloofm, in recent years, "Cat Day" broke out, as the companies seized the market involving cats were boiling. Convenient stores often compete to sell desserts and goods according to this subject. The last 22/2th, they threw out cat feet-shaped pudding.

In literature, publishing, cats are also "the marketing machine". Centuries ago, writer Natsume Sāsaki once wrote "I Am a Cat" (I am the Cat), the global classic, telling the story from a cat's perspective.

To date, cats still appear frequently in literature, including Haruki Murakami's super-real novel, as well as many of the works such as The Travelling Cats or The Guest Cat.

To date, cats are in big cultural, economic positions in Japan. However, * The Guardian* points out the "Collote Island" Alfama's losing population of individuals, due to the few left to feed and care.

In the context of decline and aging long-term populations that are almost impossible to reverse, the number of cats that have been petted in Japan narrowly forecasted. Professor Miyamoto's research noted 2025 as the first year of watching the number of cats raised as pets decline significantly.

"This may mark the beginning of the period of delay or decline after the outbreak of cat-feeding," he warned.