TASHIROJIMA, JapanTASHIROJIMA, 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, ...

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 ...

A shrine in Japan's Tokushima Prefecture has about 10,000 beckoning cats on its grounds, drawing in not only cat lovers, but many students hoping to pass their exams. What blessings does the shrine ...

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The Neko Jinja pays tribute to cats as guardian angels on Tashirojima. On a small island off Japan’s north-eastern coast, visitors make offerings at a shrine for unlikely local guardians: cats. The ...

Perhaps surprisingly, fewer than 10% of the 6,852 islands making up the Japanese archipelago are inhabited. But among those 400 or so, travelers are treated to a rich tapestry of natural treasures, ...