The same nine cats, drawn every month for six years.
by Kenji Morisawa·🇯🇵Tokyo, Japan
Photographs of mail sent by Yanaka Cat Post
An illustrated letter each month about nine specific cats in the Yanaka neighbourhood of Tokyo, drawn in ink and watercolour with a short account of what each has been doing. The cats have names, histories, ongoing disputes and, in one case, a rival. Sent as a folded illustrated letter with two postcards. It is a genuinely absurd premise that has run for six years and now has readers who ask after individual cats by name.
One per calendar month, from the creator
August 2026 · just now
I have had more than forty messages about Shiro since the July letter mentioned the limp. She is fine. The vet says it is arthritis, she is roughly fourteen, and she is on medication that the whole street now takes turns administering.
Thank you for asking. All of you. It is a strange and good thing that this many people in this many countries are worried about a cat in Yanaka.
What went out, month by month
After four years on the same step, Kuro has relocated eleven metres. This is the whole letter.
A tenth cat has appeared. The other nine are handling it badly.
A hand-drawn map of all nine territories, with disputed zones marked.
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