The big earthquake and tsunami of 2011 devastated Japan’s Tohoku area however a nationwide park stuffed with cats and deer is enjoying a significant position within the space’s restoration.
As you arrive on Tashirojima you quickly realise why it’s known as Cat Island. Originally introduced in to cope with a mouse infestation, right now, the felines outnumber the island’s human residents by 4 to at least one.
“Sericulture used to be very popular here … so to protect them [silkworms], we kept cats,” native fisherman Hama Yutaka instructed Euronews.
Tashirojima is positioned inside Japan’s Sanriku Fukko Reconstruction National Park. Stretching round 220km alongside the nation’s gorgeous northeastern Pacific coast, the park was established to assist rebuild the area after the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 2011. And the cats are enjoying their half in attracting guests to this distant a part of the nation.
“Because there are many cats, many tourists come here, and it makes the island very dynamic. They are very important friends and Tashiro Island without cats would not be Tashiro Island,” Hama Yutaka explains.
Just like their furry associates on Tashirojima, lots of of sacred deer on the close by Kinkasan Island are additionally drawing in guests to the area. Said to be divine messengers of the gods, the deer roam freely round an eighth-century Shinto shrine.
The monument is claimed to be one in every of Japan’s holiest websites and legend has it that for those who come to hope right here for 3 consecutive years, you gained’t have to fret about money for the remainder of your life.
