TASHIROJIMA, Japan — On a small island off Japan's northeastern coast, visitors make offerings at a shrine for unlikely local guardians: cats. The "Neko Jinja," or Cat Shrine, mythologizes cats as guardian angels of Tashirojima, where cats outnumber people. Legend says the island used to be famous for sericulture and farmers would keep cats because they would chase away rats, protecting the silkworm cocoons from the rodents.
A cat walks across the altar at a cat shrine May 18 on Tashirojima island in Ishinomaki, northeastern Japan. Fishermen on the island also traditionally believed that cats bring good luck , including large hauls of fish. Another legend says fishermen used to watch the cats' behavior for tips on the coming weather before heading to sea.
The islanders have long coexisted with the cats. One day, however, a fisherman accidentally injured a cat while working. Feeling sorry for the injury, the islanders built the shrine for cats.
Tashirojima is part of the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture in the Tohoku region, which became well known after a tsunami devastated the area following a massive magnitude 9 earthquake March 11, 2011 . Tourists watch cats getting fed May 18 at a cafe on Tashirojima island in Ishinomaki, northeast Japan. More than 100 cats inhabit Tashirojima, along with about 50 humans, according to the city's website.
Along a paved road running about 1.2 miles between the island's two ports, cats groom themselves and mingle with other cats. Th.