The Travelling Cat Chronicles

If you don’t mourn a dead cat properly, you’ll never get over it.

As I explained earlier, most animals are multilingual when it comes to listening, but reading is beyond us. Reading and writing seem to belong to a special linguistic system that only humans possess.

Among cats, when a female chooses a mate, it’s a very clear-cut thing. Not just among cats, but with all animals, the female’s judgement about love is absolute.

If you have to consider what’s going to happen after you die, life becomes doubly troublesome.

A stray cat’s skill lies in building up a complex web of connections in order to survive on the streets.

My story will be over soon. But it’s not something to be sad about. Remembering those who went ahead. Remembering those who will follow after. And someday, we will meet all those people again, out beyond the horizon

As we count up the memories from one journey, we head off on another. Remembering those who went ahead. Remembering those who will follow after. And someday, we will meet all those people again, out beyond the horizon.

How could I ever leave him, having experienced that kind of love? I will never, ever, leave him.

At that moment, we were without doubt the greatest travellers in the world. And I was the world’s greatest travelling cat.

Humans who think we don’t understand them are the stupid ones.

We live together, but I am not Noriko's cat. Forever and ever I am your cat, Satoru. That's why I can't become Noriko's.

Tell me, Satoru. What's out there beyond this field? A lot of wonderful things, I'm thinking. I wonder if I'll be able to go on a trip with you again. Satoru grins, and picks me up, so I can see the far-off-horizon from his eye level. Ah - we saw so many things, didn't we?

No other animal in the world would try to defy the laws of nature, but humans are a very peculiar species.

Cats the world over prefer to discover things they like on their own and rarely go for anything that’s been provided for them.

Humans always underestimate our language skills. Just ’cause they can read and write, there’s no need to act all high and mighty.

Our silver van was like a magic carriage. Every time I got into it, it carried me to a place I'd never been before. At that moment, we were without a doubt the greatest travelers in the world. And I was the world's greatest traveling cat.

Human beings are basically huge monkeys that walked upright, but they can be pretty full of themselves.

I thought it would be great if we could travel together like this for the rest of our lives.

the desire to be kind and mean no harm

I get it. Having had Satoru take me in as his cat, I think I felt as lucky as he did. Strays, by definition, have been abandoned or left behind, but Satoru rescued me when I broke my leg. He made me the happiest cat on earth. I'll always remember those five years we had together. And I'll forever go by the name Nana, the name that - let's face it - is pretty unusual for a male cat. The town where Satoru grew up, too, I would remember that. And the green seedlings swaying in the fields. The sea, with its frighteningly loud roar. Mount Fuji, looming over us. How cosy it felt on top of that boxy TV. That wonderful lady cat, Momo. That nervy but earnest hound, Toramaru. That huge white ferry, which swallowed up cars into its stomach. The dogs in the pet holding area, wagging their tails at Satoru. That foul-mouthed chinchilla telling me Guddo rakku! The land in Hokkaido stretching out forever. Those vibrant purple and yellow flowers by the side of the road. The field of pampas grass like an ocean. The horses chomping on grass. The bright-red berries on the mountain-ash trees. The shades of red on the mountain ash that Satoru taught me. The stands of slender white birch. The graveyard, with its wide-open vista. The bouquet of flowers in rainbow colours. The white heart-shaped bottom of the deer. That huge, huge, huge double rainbow growing out of the ground. I would remember these for the rest of my life. And Kosuke, and Yoshimine, and Sugi and Chikako. And above all, the one who brought up Satoru and made it possible for us to meet - Noriko. Could anyone be happier than this?

When an animal’s life is over, it rests where it falls, and it often seems to me that humans are such worriers, to think of preparing a place for people to sleep when they are dead. If you have to consider what’s going to happen after you die, life becomes doubly troublesome. Satoru drove the van through

Satoru took his phone out of his pocket. Most of the photos he took with it, by the by, were of me.

My story will be over soon. But it's not something to be sad about. As we count up the memories from one journey, we head off on another. Remembering those who went ahead. Remembering those who will follow after. And someday, we will meet all those people again, out beyond the horizon.

Life, be it human or feline, doesn't always work out the way you think it will.

I was in the hospital to see him off. But he’s still here, in my heart, so I don’t need a ceremony to remember him.

You ask if we cats can see ghosts. Don’t you know that there are things in this world that are better left a mystery?

It snowed for several days in a row. When it finally let up, I sidled over to the side of the warehouse where I had a clear view of the hospital’s front entrance. It was the first sunny day in a while, yet Satoru didn’t appear on the terrace. When the sun began to set, Noriko oulled up in the silver van. Her face looked pale, her hair dishevelled. I pattered up to her, but she said simply, ‘Sorry, Nana. You’ll have to wait,’ and walked swiftly inside. ……. Noriko elbowed her way through them to Sat’s side. ‘Satoru, it’s Nana!’ Satoru’s closed eyelids quivered. As if fighting against gravity, they slowly lifted. Unable to move his head, his eyes searched from side to side. Noriko clasped Satoru’s hand and placed it gently on top of Nana’s small head. Satoru’s lips moved faintly. She thought she heard him say, ‘Thank you.’ The ECG screen flat-lined. Nana nuzzled the top of his head up and down against Satoru’s lifeless hand.