Here's an article about ganbanyoku that I wrote for Tokyo Weekender.

Out and About

It's still cold as balls up in the radioactive north, but spring is starting to rear its head, for which I am hella grateful.

This week, my mask-wearing mug is appearing in The Big Issue (Japan), a magazine sold by homeless vendors outside of major train stations. The article is about the work of Japan Cat Network in Fukushima, and features a big fat picture of yours truly feeding cats in the zone, as well as an inset on dear King, who we hear is frolicking happily among the hot springs of Beppu.

The issue in question came out on February 15th and will be available until the end of the month, and features actress Norika Fujiwara on the cover. If you've never checked out The Big Issue - do. It's got well-written, interesting articles by journalists, they throw in a mixture of pop culture stuff and serious issues (sometimes in one story - the cover two issues ago featured famous – and schizophrenic – artist Yayoi Kusama {Whoa - when I clicked over to her link I discovered she's designing lingerie for my favorite undies shop, une nana cool, which already has great design}). And they are also providing homeless vendors with an opportunity to make an income. They receive about half of the mag's 300 yen cover price.

The monster puppy ended up being called Nakio, for lack of something else. I tell ya, if you don't decide on something in a reasonable amount of time, something ridiculous will stick. I took him to his trial home last week, and told them that they really should change his name if they keep him. I will report back on his progress. I missed him terribly the first night, I want him back. But if he and his family are happy with each other, it's the best I can hope for.

I also want to start introducing cool places I've found while being in Fukushima – this prefecture has a lot of unexpected surprises, beautiful and stylish spots that you never thought you'd find in what looks, at first glance, to be a backwater.

The first of these is a little bakery right across the street from Club Lohas, called Comaya. This calming café puts on French airs with its Brigitte Bardot on the hi-fi and its use of Swiss and French butter in their excellently delicious croissants (my unrefined palate can't tell the difference between them, but my favorite is the chocolate croissant). They are decked out in carefully edited vintage furniture, with painted wooden chairs and comfortable sofas, and one wall looks out onto a small fishing pond, ringed with hydrangeas in the spring and summer. They make a mean homemade English muffin-based lunch plate, with a heap of fresh salad and gorgeous local tofu sprinkled with herb salt.

Thank you today to Alexandra, who sent me a donation. Thank you!!

Joey poster boy

I am sweet. Vote for me.

Joey is a cat that Naruki-san and I rescued in Fukushima a few months ago. We spotted him limping next to the road, with visible scars. We stopped to trap him, and he tried to hide, but didn't get far, pathetically positioning himself behind a thin patch of grass in the gutter. We put out food, and he quickly came to scarf it down, making him easy to pick up. We went straight to the vet, as he had several open wounds, missing fur, and a huge scar running from his face and diagonally across his chest, and was piteously thin. When we got him to the vet, we further discovered a quarter-sized hole in the skin on his armpit, his insides visible. One of the vet techs started crying at this point. We got him cleaned up and medicated, and then took him to the shelter to begin the healing and fattening process. He was recently adopted by his wonderful foster mom. Most of his scars have healed, and he has put on weight. He is so friendly and sweet, and so glad to be in a warm and loving place with other kitty friends around. 

Thanks to Naruki-san, who came up that day for the first time, and has continued to come out to volunteer on a regular basis since then, and Jeffrey, who sent me a donation. Thank you!

Natalie, Rosie, and Monster Boy

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Here's Natalie, a Fukushima kitten who went for her spay last weekend and is now in foster in Tokyo.

She's a 三毛猫、or a calico, and I think she looks like my favorite of these rings, that the lovely and talented JB made and donated in time for our event last weekend.

Sokkuri!

We sold some at the event, and the rest are up for grabs. If you want one, send me an email or leave a comment telling me which one and I'll send you the non-profit's paypal address. $12, postpaid to anywhere.

They're adjustable!

Another friend who came down to the metro with me was Rosie, a sweet girl found in Minami Soma at the end of 2011. She was bitterly hard to catch, skittish and nervous in the cutting cold.

Now she's a sweet happy mincing thing, up for snuggles and walks and of course, snacks

Last night I had the pleasure of snuggling with this little one. He had cried and whined the whole night before, and kept people in three adjacent rooms up. 

I decided to try him in my room, to let the poor guy who put up with him the first night get some sleep. I put him in a crate right next to my futon.

The little monster child wasn't content though. He cried and whined and squealed. I really didn't want him to poop or pee in my sleeping area. 

Finally I took him out and let him in the futon with me. The monster baby stopped crying and became a snugglebug. And he didn't toilet all night long, until I took him down to the pet sheeted area!

He's available for adoption.

Monster Boy still doesn't have a name. I'm trying to think of something fitting. First I was calling him Nakiko (crybaby), but it turns out he's a boy, not a girl. I thought about Max, after Where the Wild Things Are, but we've already had a Maxwell and a Maxine. I'm interested in names for little boys who are also monsters. Any ideas?

Thanks this week go to JB, who made the beautiful rings, and Rosanna, who sent me a donation. Your donations helped to pay for Natalie's spay, Rosie's rescue, and Monster Boy's presence in my futon! Thank you!

Omedetou!

Chibi found a foster home!

King found a foster home!

Photo by Anri Harada Fabrot

Cleo found a forever home!

Photo by Susan Roberts

Kangaroo was adopted!

Photo by Annabelle Ratcliffe

Melanie and Diggory and Hinata went to foster!

Paul was adopted!

Photo by Sylvia Hatsutani

This is the best part. Finding places that these guys can make new friends and live their lives in peace and comfort.

We still have so many more that need a meal, a roof, and a cuddle!

Kenny and Choco

Jenny Jenny

Aki

We're having a benefit buffet meal this Sunday in Tokyo, at News Café in Jiyugaoka. Come on out if you can, eat, drink, donate, volunteer, foster, adopt!

Thanks this week go to Shannon, who sent me a donation. She takes cool photographs. Thank you Shannon!

adopt or foster

Here's a video that Susan made about some of the animals that we've been working for all these months. Theae are the ones that we got from owners or found in the street and are feeding and walking cleaning up after every day.

Chiro, shown along with my horribly horse fly bitten legs, has been with us for six months. Her owners are still not in a position to take her back. Though she's aggressive to other dogs, she's really sweet to humans. She's really smart and lovely, loves a belly rub or a snack. She's really fast, and relishes her walks.


Thanks this week go to Kim, who sent me a donation, and Julia, who came up to volunteer last week.

Doggy Style

It's getting cold, people.

I am not one who approves of dogs in clothes, usually. I used to think it was unbearably twee and coddling and the dogs always seemed embarrassed. I once saw a poodle in Kamakura wearing mini Chuck Taylors.

Jenny Jenny

But people, it is COLD. And we had all these donated dog clothes. And the dogs are sleeping outside. Granted, in an insulated kennel, with dog houses, and blankets, but still. An extra layer can't hurt, right?

Sam and Choco, looking especially handsome

So from this week it's been dog fashion time.

Don't they look handsome? I think Chibi looks like a retiree going on a cruise. Fitting, since she's kind of geriatric at 9 years old, doesn't really want to leave her room to go on walks. But from now she's LIVING IT UP.

Chibi, on her way to the Bahamas.

King ate the first shirt I put on him. I guess he didn't like it. But this one looks stylish on him too.

King will eat your shirt.

I think Kenny looks like an English professor in his sweater.

Where did I put my pipe?

Chiro's shirt was donated by some people in Thailand. It says "Gambatte Japan,  from the people of Thailand".

Thanks this week go to people who sent clothes, including "the people of Thailand" and Leonora&Ian, and Jackie, who sent me a donation. Thank you so much!

They call him King

King, looking more like a scruffy pirate.

This is King, a short time after he came to Lohas. He had been on his own for four months, his owners evacuated, with almost no human contact. A neighbor finally called us. When I went to pick him up, he barked fiercely. He was skinny with patches of fur missing and red, irritated skin.

After coming to Inawashiro, he quickly warmed up to us. He ate ravenously, and would bark steadily if left alone. He craved human companionship, and was known for his tendency to stand up on hind legs with front legs extended forward like arms, begging for attention.

We treated him for fleas and ticks, got him vaccinated, and neutered, and soon his hair started growing back in, his coat thickening, and his ribs receding under a layer of proper nutrition.

A few months later.

Here he is in September. King is really an alpha guy. He walks proudly, head and tail in the air, dragging his handler if you let him. He's a big baby when it comes to vaccines but a tough guy when it comes to foxes and other dogs challenging his authority. When he took his surgery vacation weekend at my house, he luxuriated at being indoors and being the sole canine focus of attention. I think he would thrive in foster care.


I'd like to dedicate King's story to Rosanna, who sent me a donation. Thank you very much.

satooya news

Hey y'all.

Stellaluna in the pantry, by my mom.

I'm still in Fukushima, surrounded by fur babies.

fur babies, by Anna Vieste

These are some puppies we recently picked up, at about four weeks old. It's really dangerous to pick them up because everyone who does wants to take one home. They are delicious.

yummy puppy diego, by anna vieste

And, AND, the chickens got adopted! All eighty of them! They went to a little natural (pesticide free, they grow a lot of their own crops) bakery down in Okayama called Hototogisu. I love that name. It means cuckoo.

The chickens are now being put to work as free range layers at a little bakery down south.

They've had the eggs tested (again) and they have been deemed fit for consumption. All that trucking in of food and water over the months seems to have been a good thing.

Speaking of adoption, my dad came out to volunteer three times, and he couldn't resist taking home a couple of the kitties. Stellaluna, pictured in the pantry above, was so named because of her huge ears in proportion to her head, making her look like a bat. She was the runt of the litter, a spunky, tiny little thing who we didn't think would make it, but who climbed up the bars of the cage and cried in such a big voice we imagined her saying STELLLLLA! like Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Along with Stella came her sister, who my mom named Chibitora.

Chibitora is super cuddly.

Long ago, we had a pair of sister cats, one a tuxedo, and one a brown tabby called Tiger. Tigger ran away within the first year or so, but Tuxy stayed with us her whole life. These two new little girls resemble Tux and Tig so closely that my mom named Chibi in Tiger's honor and muses about reincarnation (生まれ変わり, umarekawari). Chibi is a snugglebug.

There are still so many cats out in the zone, and some dogs too. Today I got a call from someone who wants us to pick up five koi, about a meter long apiece. That's fifteen feet of carp, people! Anybody got space in their pond?

The animals in this post are dedicated to Dharma and Carrie, who sent me a donation and hosted me for dinner in October, and JB, who kicked my ass into posting again. Thanks dolls.