It isn’t International Cat Day, but we’re going to pretend it is all the same. Why? As we found a load of interesting Japanese artwork about cats and, you know, cats and the internet have gone together like tea and cups.

Literally. They’re inseparable, and they need each other like humans need Jaffa Cakes. Indeed, it has been postulated by Albert Einstein that, should cats suddenly return to Mars, the internet would implode within 24 hours as people wouldn’t be uploading pictures of their adorable cats anymore. And this would be a disastrous development.

Still, such a tragedy will never happen for the simple reason cats have a good monopoly going on humans – now more than ever.

International Cat Day

Your average cat owns its owner, with the latter believing they own the beast, but the believing owner is owned by the supposed owned and it’s actually the other owner who owns the owned (please feel free to substitute the previous sentence for one which actually makes sense).

We’re going to wow you now with some fantabulous Japanese art of our feline friends. Firstly, if you’re not sure what a cat actually is, here’s a Wikipedia explanation:

“The domestic cat (Felis catus or Felis silvestris catus) is a small, usually furry, domesticated, and carnivorous mammal.

It is often called the housecat when kept as an indoor pet, or simply “the cat” when there is no need to distinguish it from other felids and felines. Cats are valued by humans for companionship and their ability to hunt vermin and household pests.”

So, now you’re in the know, it’s onwards for further amazeballs.

Adoration? Not On Your Smelly!

Cats haven’t had such a glorious time of it in Japanese folklore. Behold; “Cats have been held in a very low esteem, might be that in some version recounting the death of the buddha, they appear as the only animals not to weep.

In Kuniyoshi’s time, it was believed that when a girl visited a temple after dark, she took the risk of being greeted by an old woman who would offer her to stay the night. Once inside the house, the old woman would become a witch and devour her.

Therefore, a cat around a temple could be the witch in a cat form.” This is in reference to the above picture. So, you know, cats haven’t always been adored.

Psychosis

Many humans will be miffed to find their physiology has evolved to process the animals they gorge upon, so they don’t eat vegetables as they can’t digest them, although (and Mr. Wapojif can attest to this) cats do eat grass to take in folic acid and other nutritional hoo-hahs.

Of course, we humans don’t often see the psychotic side to our pets; we see the adorable purring, the sleeping, the stretching, the narcissism, the attention seeking, and much more… but we don’t see the cold-blooded killer who slices its way through poor defencless mice. And sometimes they kill just for the fun of it. Lunatics.

Japan And Its Animals

Okay so this thing has more to do with random stuff, including a bee that looks more like a butterfly, if you ask Mr. Wapojif. Cats are in there, though, looking playful and fun, as always. Huzzah!

Sleep

Cats do around 12 hours of this a day. Heck, they do it so well it puts everything else on the planet to shame.

They’re not embarrassed about their napping habits (there isn’t really an agenda to follow – whenever they feel like it, it’s sleep time) and if you’re in the way they’ll simply sleep on you, making you feel awkward and guilt-ridden when you realise you need to move. Still, one of Mr. Wapojif’s fond memories of his last cat was when he decided to sleep on my head. An odd experience, but interesting.

Balancing Act

Cats have this habit of rubbing it in human’s faces. For a start, they can deal with heat much better than humans (they don’t give much of a damn if it’s 50 degrees Celsius, for instance, whereas humans would be passed out on the floor gasping for water.

Cats have you bettered there, too, as their kidneys are so epic they only need to eat meat to survive, although they can rehydrate by drinking seawater if they feel like it. This old man seems pretty miffed about all of this, and here he is doing a strange sort of Dance of Mockery. Weirdo.

Mood Swings

For all their poise and grace cats are also renowned for sudden, toothy mood swings. If you’re on the receiving end of this there is nothing but pain, as this poor lady seems to be experiencing above. ‘ecky thump!

Anthropomorphised Cats

What if cats had humans could walk and talk like humans? What would they say? We should imagine they’d be self-obsessed and hell-bent on visiting as many Sushi restaurants as possible. Not too far removed from modern humans then, eh?