A Little City Cat’s Adventure in Deep Mountains

Once upon a time, there was a little city cat who went to the deep mountains in Japan on the Valentines’ Day. She enjoyed the view on a hill top from the evening and she took lots of photos till the time that a thin crescent moon, the Winter Triangle and the Hunter were all smiling high on the black sky.

When she found it’s time to go back to the pension, the road to the village became scarily dark, half covered by ice. Of course, there was no any passenger. Would there come some bears or bad guys to eat this little cat? Hopefully no.

When she almost reached the village, she remembered what the owner of the pension told her that it is very difficult to find a restaurant in the village at night because people here are living a good life, get up early, sleep early. The little cat started to worry what to eat, especially she already skipped her lunch.

And then she found a Trout Fish Restaurant with closed door but still with light. The little cat tried her luck to ask. The little cat made sure that she wore her human being’s coat well; hide all her cat ears, cat whiskers and cat tail well.

An elder man came out to answer the door. The elder man looked at the cat for some seconds and then said, ok, please come in to have dinner.

The little cat felt thankful and she was wondering, because the elder man found she is a foreign cat from her accent? or because the elder man saw the desire of fish in a real cat’s eyes?

There was no any other guest in the restaurant. She waited alone in the big “IRORI” (囲炉裏; living room and dining place with fireplace in traditional Japanese village house in this area). After some while, a big tray with nice food came out. When the little cat was taking photo of the food and was about to enjoy it, the elder man came to the IRORI again, carrying two free scenery post cards for the little cat who brought a big camera and a tripod.

She was really surprised and she really feel thankful to the elder man and his wife who prepared the dinner for her. They actually could reject a little cat's visit because it was late and it cost the same labor to prepare food for one person and for more persons.

And she must say, the raw fish was one of the best that she had ever had in Japan, so fresh and so sweet! Even the little cat might not be able to visit the village again, these warm memories would keep in her mind forever.


↑ The restaurant in daytime

↑ The little cat's Valentines' Day dinner.