Cat lovers driving the new wave of 'Nekonomics'

Publishers in the UK used to say that anything would sell if they put a picture of the queen of England or a puppy dog on the cover.

For Japan right now, it's not puppy dogs, but kitty cats that are exciting readers. According to professor emeritus Masahiro Miyamoto of Kansai University, this year cat owners and cat lovers will contribute to the economy by 1.969 trillion yen. A new term has even been coined for this burgeoning phenomenon: "Nekonomics."

The growth, notes Asahi Geino (March 17), was underscored by data from the Japan Pet Food Association, which estimated that in 2021 the number of pet cats in Japan increased by some 320,000 felines over the previous year, bringing the total in Japan to approximately 8.94 million.

"Professor Miyamoto has suggested the coronavirus pandemic as being the reason for the increase," suggested an unnamed writer covering the pet industry. "More people have been spending time in their homes, leading more to wish for an animal companion to provide them with psychological healing. Moreover cats differ from dogs in that they are easier to keep, and require less attention, such as having to be taken out for walks and so on.

"Compared with dogs, they also require smaller monetary outlays," the writer added.

It was around 2014, the magazine notes, that the number of pet cats in Japan surpassed dogs. By 2021, total dog ownership was estimated at 7.1 million, nearly 2 million fewer than cats. When cat food and other outlays related to ownership -- such as cat toys, expenditures at cat cafes, and cat-related travel -- are taken into account, professor Miyamoto calculated the annual market to be just short of 2 trillion yen.

The "Nekonomics" report compared outlays for cats to other recent booms that contributed the domestic economy, and found only a small number of comparable examples. One was the Hiroshima Carp's emerging as the top baseball team in 2017, which generated 40.1 billion yen; another was the Hanshin Tigers' championship in 2003, which generated 148.1 billion yen.

"So when adding up so many households one by one, even something as small as cats was enough to generate a potent economic force," the report stated.

One aspect of the phenomenon is the plethora of printed matter directed at cat lovers. At book stores, one can find dozens of publications with felines adorning the covers. Shobunsha has released "Nyappuru" (a play on words from mappuru, meaning maps), which compiles cat-related information, and the Asahi Shimbun released NyAERA, a special issue from its AERA magazine department. (Nyan is the Japanese equivalent of "meow.")

Tokyo's Jimbocho book district even boasts a specialty shop called Jimbocho Nyanko-do. Proprietor Fumio Anegawa told Asahi Geino, "It all started about 10 years ago when we were looking for a way to attract more customers, and we put up a shelf exclusively about cats. It took off and now we stock 700 cat-related publications, including books, magazines, and photo collections. We also sell toys and other cat-related goods. Since we have books not usually available in large bookstores, on holidays we even attract customers from the countryside, for which we're very grateful."

The whole thing is, well, "NYANbelievable," the writer quips.

A commercial film producer has been inviting cat owners to register their pets, in the hope they may be summoned for an audition, giving them a chance to appear in the growing number of TV ads featuring cats.

A sidebar in the magazine introduces some of the many efforts to cater to cat owners and, in some cases, separate them from their money. They include:

1. Value assessors for pedigreed cats
2. IT companies that provide their workers with a cat allotment
3. Appointment of cat stationmasters
4. Cat-related mail order goods
5. Huge 3D billboard cat advertisements
6. A cat planetarium that displays a non-existent "cat galaxy"
7. Bus tours for cats and their owners (in Nagoya)
8. Commemorative rubber stamps with cat motifs
9. A cat georama in Tennoji, Osaka
10. A cat-related furusato tax credit offered by Kamigori-cho, in western Hyogo Prefecture

A short bus ride from JR Ome station in the west part of Tokyo takes you to the Sumiyoshi Jinja-mae bus stop, where a sign can be seen reading "Ome Neko-machi 1-chome." Here, Ome's "cat town" has been festooned from reminders of the Showa era (1926-1989), including posters with references to "Nyasyonaru Terebi" and "The Cat of 20 Faces" --- a punned reference to a criminal genius created by novelist Edogawa Rampo.

February 22 has been designated "Neko no Hi" (cat's day), since 2-2-2 can, if stretching it a bit, be pronounced nyan-nyan-nyan. And since last month had the date 2/22/2022, marketers went wild.

In Japanese, the expression "pearls before swine" is neko ni koban (gold coins before cats). Whether you subscribe to such negative feelings toward felines or or not, concludes Asahi Geino, at this point in time, the nation's cat-related businesses are really raking it in.

© Japan Today