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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/jillrq on 2025-06-10 04:23:30+00:00.

We went to Tashirojima on our first trip to Japan. It was out of the way for our mainly Tokyo and Kyoto focused trip but SO worth it if you’re a cat lover. I’d say 90% of the cat were friendly and happy to be pet. I’ve heard concerns about poor health on cat islands but that wasn’t our experience. There were a few elderly and thin cats and/or with some skin condition but the vast majority looked well fed and healthy. With any group of feral cats there will be some unhealthy ones. The small number leads me to believe the residents do more than just feed them. We visited the cat shrine which was sweet. The highlight was the noon feeding at a cafe in the middle of the island (station cafe?). It was hard to keep track while they were moving around but we counted 47 cats that arrived for lunch.

Also a highlight of the trip was the Tama Hotel and the owner Mino. He was a real character - warm, always in cat themed clothing, cat and Elvis memorabilia around the hotel. There was a room with several cats next to the lobby that was open several hour a day for visiting. He gave us a cat button and cat shaped chocolate. He went shockingly out of his way to help us navigate the coastal city next to the island (Ishinomaki), recommended restaurants, drove us back and forth to the train station and ferry, took us to a yummy bakery on the way to the ferry, etc. We missed the morning ferry (which means we’d have missed the noon feeding) so we decided to stay an additional day. He seemed to feel some responsibility for us missing the ferry which clearly wasn’t true (or he just saw the crushed look on my face and felt really bad for me) and as a result he spent 4 hours taking us to the beach and a mountain vista. We originally booked the family room that looked spacious and well appointed per other Reddit reviews but we rescheduled to accommodate a baseball game in Tokyo (highly recommended!) so instead we got the last two rooms which were small but clean and comfortable.

If you love cats you should put Tashirojima island on your bucket list. If you like warm, quirky people and unusual hotel experiences then you should book Tama Hotel.