(28 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nagasaki, Japan – 21 April 2025
1. Tabby cat named Mi-chan with a key-shaped tail being stroked, UPSOUND No name given, (Japanese): "Look at this (tail). Isn’t this amazing?"
2. Tracking shot of Mi-chan
3. Various of stray cat with short and bent tail
4. Stray cat running away
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nagasaki, Japan – 24 April 2025
5. Exterior of Omagari Neko Shrine, near Spectacle Bridge
6. Shrine member of staff and member of Nagasaki Cat Society, Kazuya Hideshima, helping customer
7. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Kazuya Hideshima, Omagari Neko Shrine staff member and member of Nagasaki Cat Society:
"Omagari neko is a term for cats whose tail bones are genetically bent. The shape varies from key-shaped to bobtail and bun-shaped tails but all are believed to bring happiness and luck."
8. Tilt up of cat fortune-telling slips hanging outside shrine
9. Tokyo resident, Natsuno Kani, praying with her friend
10. Beckoning cat ornament with curved tail
11. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Natsuno Kani, 50-year-old tourist from Tokyo:
"I knew there were many omagari (cats) in Nagasaki which is also famous for its hilly roads."
12. Lucky charms in shape of cats
13. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Abigail Tarraso, Spanish artist based in Takeo City, Saga Prefecture:
"We might have some (cats with curved tailed) but I don’t know. They are not popular (in Spain) as in Japan."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tokyo – 22 May 2025
14. Veterinarian and cat specialist Soshin Yamamoto carrying his 10-year-old cat, Katsuo
15. Close of Katsuo
16. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Soshin Yamamoto, veterinarian and cat specialist:
"One thing is to do with Nagasaki’s geographical and cultural character. Having the only port open to the world in Japan during the period of isolation, cats came in and out (of the country) which led to genetic mutation."
17. Yamamoto showing X-rays of a cat’s straight tail and a bobtail cat on monitor
18. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Soshin Yamamoto, veterinarian and cat specialist:
"In the UK, there is a famous breed known as Manx, which is almost tailless. Manx also originates from an island – the Isle of Man – so I guess one can say omagari-cats can be reproduced in a similar environment. It is said that the rate of bobtail cats are high in Japan, which is also an island, a big one. As a result, some people have an impression that cats in Japan are Calico cats with a short tail."
19. Yamamoto pointing to X-ray of twisted cat’s tail
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nagasaki, Japan – 24 April 2025
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Cindy Bi, American artist based in Takeo City, Saga Prefecture:
"No, today is the first time in Nagasaki I’ve ever heard of this. So I am excited to look around for them. Maybe we will see a few."
21. Mid of key-shaped tail cat
STORYLINE:
In Japan, bobtail cats are considered good luck and Nagasaki is the place to find them.
They are known as “omagari neko (bent-tail cats)” or “kagi neko (hook cats)” and have their own society of admirers and even a dedicated Shinto shrine.
Their tails come in varieties including hook-shaped at the tip, curved or in a bun, explained Kazuya Hideshima, a worker at Omagari Neko Shrine and member of the Nagasaki Cat Society.
Past findings have indicated bobtails accounted for nearly 80% of the cats in Nagasaki, twice the occurrence of anywhere else in Japan.
Japanese cats are believed to have come from China in the 6th century with Buddhist monks, serving as rat hunters to protect religious scriptures on ships.
Nagasaki residents hope the cats bring in tourists and help business.
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