Interest
See Japanese City from Cat's Point of View
posted on by Eric Stimson
Thanks to Google's Street Viewer, we can now walk around towns from around the world, glancing at stores, taking detours down side streets and getting lost without even leaving the comfort of our chairs and air conditioning. To shake things up a bit, Hiroshima Prefecture is developing Hiroshima Cat Street View, which works in a similar fashion, but is oriented much lower, from a cat's level.
So far, the street view only includes two areas, both in the city of Onomichi, which is known for its cat population. The shopping arcade guides the viewer through a busy commercial section and introduces them to "poster cats" in the neighborhood — friendly cats used by stores to lure customers in. The Narrow Cat Road takes viewers on a trip between Ushitora Shrine and Tennei Temple along a pathway frequented by cats (which sometimes moves onto the fence, as cats are wont to do). Your guide, a poster cat named Lala, points you to landmarks along the way, like a museum of maneki neko (cat statues used to beckon customers into businesses) and a parking lot where cats like to gather.
Lala in the shopping arcade
Along the Narrow Cat Road
Information on the poster cat Koume
The Cat Street View will expand in October to Kubo and Misode Tenman Shrine as well. The project is part of a Hiroshima Prefecture tourism initiative launched in June to showcase the prefecture's hidden corners and less well-known appeals. During September the mocha cat cafe in Shibuya, Tokyo will showcase the Hiroshima Cat Street View in a corner along with pictures of Onomichi's poster cats and a limited amount of Hiroshima lemon soda to get customers in the right mood.
[Via Kai-You]