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Encounter with a dying baby cat
A Small Life That Changed Everything
Next to Diorama Café, there is a childcare center and nursery operated by our group.
On the morning of June 10, 2020, someone left a cardboard box at the entrance of the childcare center. Inside was a tiny kitten, barely clinging to life.
The following morning, June 11, one of the nursery teachers brought the kitten to me, the owner of Diorama Café, saying:
"I took the dying kitten home and managed to bring her back to life!"
It was an incredibly precious little life, so small and adorable that she could fit in the palm of a hand.
The day this tiny kitten was brought to us came at a very difficult time. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from March through the end of May, we were facing serious financial difficulties, and I was beginning to feel that both mentally and financially, I was reaching my limit.
(We will share this story in more detail separately.)
For the time being, after showing the kitten to the children at the childcare facility on the second floor of the same building, I took her home that evening.
When I explained the situation to my family, my daughter immediately said, "Let's keep her."
And so began our journey of protecting this tiny kitten, who had not even opened her eyes yet.
The Mother Cat Who Came Looking for Her Kitten
After some time passed, the latter half of June arrived, bringing increasingly hot and humid weather. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, customers had almost completely stopped coming to the restaurant.
At the time, some parents of children attending our childcare facility were helping us keep it running. As a result, Diorama Café gradually became a place mainly for people close to us. Every evening after 6:00 PM, it became a place where our children's transportation drivers, who had finished work early, and the children's families would gather to share meals together.
Then, a tabby cat with a fierce expression began appearing every day.
It quickly became clear that she was searching for her kitten. From the top of the long table where we kept our disinfectant supplies, she would carefully look through the glass at the diorama inside, searching for her baby.
Because the mother cat came every single day, Diorama Café manager Takashi Yamamoto and I decided to start preparing food for her. We placed fish, items from our refrigerator, and leftover ingredients originally prepared for the children's facility into a plastic container and gave them to her.
However, whenever we spoke to the mother cat, the only response we received was a warning hiss: "Hiss!" She was clearly extremely cautious and afraid of humans.
Later, we discovered that this continued for more than a month after the day we first rescued her kitten.
The Day Everything Changed
Then, the day that would change everything arrived.
One of the children at the childcare center came to me and said:
"There are cats drinking milk from their mother in the building next door!"
I went to see them together with the childcare center staff.
That evening, in the middle of a heavy downpour, we discovered the tabby mother cat playing under a car parked in front of the restaurant with her kittens: two tabby kittens and one white kitten with patches.
After seeing them there, we decided not to move the car for a while so the cats would have a safe place to stay.
We also asked Mr. Y from Duskin, who had always supported us, to prepare antibacterial mats so that we could create a safe area where the cats could take shelter.
A Difficult Decision
Around 9:00 PM on July 13, an unexpected offer came that would greatly change the course of our relationship with this family of cats.
A woman named Ms. Ueda, who lived nearby and was involved in rescue cat activities, approached us. Although we had never met before, she asked:
"Would it be alright if I rescued these cats? I would find adoptive families for them and help them find new homes."
Her words left all of our staff speechless.
Separate these newborn kittens from their mother?
At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic had brought so much sadness, with rising death tolls and the loss of well-known figures filling the news every day, we were already struggling with overwhelming emotions.
The thought of this separation hurt us more deeply than we expected.
"I never imagined that the day we would have to say goodbye could come..."
Those unexpected words shook us deeply.
However, the reality was that our group was facing severe financial difficulties due to the impact of the pandemic. The truth was that we did not even have the financial capacity to properly care for cats at that time.
Because of this, we told Ms. Ueda that we could not give her an immediate answer and asked her:
"Please give us one week to decide."
Adopting the cat family
Finally, the Family Was Safe
One month later, on the night of July 22, we finally succeeded in rescuing the mother cat.
Following Ms. Ueda's suggestion, we immediately took her to the veterinary clinic, where she underwent a spay surgery. We planned to pick her up the following night.
After rescuing the mother cat, Ms. Ueda continued her rescue efforts from midnight until 5:00 AM, working through the night to help the kittens.
At 5:00 AM on July 23, she successfully rescued two of the kittens.
They are the Leo and Nara we know today.
Then, on July 24, the last kitten, the tabby kitten who had continued to escape capture, was finally rescued.
Her name is Raia.
Returning the Kittens to Their Mother
At this time, Sara had already finished her spay surgery and was staying inside a cage.
The kittens spent six days at Ms. Ueda's home before they were finally ready to come to Diorama Café.
When I visited Ms. Ueda's home to bring them back, the three kittens looked clean and healthy as they stared back at me.
However, even after six days, I still remember how frightened their eyes looked.
Personally, this was a time when I was constantly receiving calls from financial institutions and supporters regarding our financial situation and outstanding payments.
In the middle of that emotional exhaustion, I saw the kittens innocently playing. I remember feeling something, but I no longer remember exactly what it was. I was simply that worn out.
However, I do remember one thought that suddenly came to me:
"Shouldn't we take them back to their mother?"
The desire to bring them to Sara, who had arrived at Diorama Café a little earlier than the kittens, rose up from somewhere deep inside my exhausted heart.
It was a small but pure feeling that began to return to a heart that had felt completely empty.
Sara's Anger and Fear
Let us go back a little in time to the day we rescued Sara and welcomed her into Diorama Café.
Inside Diorama Café, beyond the spacious area at the entrance, there is a room that houses the "electrified railway diorama" we had built during Golden Week, about one month before we encountered Sara and her family.
There was only a small amount of available space there, but we somehow managed to place two cages. We tried to move Sara, who had been rescued first, into one of them.
However, at that time, Sara had only just arrived at Diorama Café after being temporarily taken to a veterinary clinic by Ms. Inoue from the rescue cat group for her spay surgery.
From Sara's perspective, those days had been nothing but fear. Her heart was filled with both anger and terror.
She hissed repeatedly with such intensity that I wondered if she could really be that frightened. If anyone tried to approach her, she would reach out her long paws from inside the cage and swipe at them, making it impossible to get close.
After that, I began studying every day through YouTube to learn how to build a relationship with a stray cat.
However, even when I tried the methods I had learned in the hope of becoming closer to her, I could not reach her heart. All I ended up with were hands covered in scratches and blood.
And this struggle would continue for some time.
Sara Was Still Unable to Adjust
When August arrived, a new staff member named "I-kun" joined us. He was a calm and gentle person.
By this time, the kittens had started becoming slightly more comfortable around us than their mother, Sara. However, Sara herself remained unchanged.
After repeatedly ending up with my hands covered in blood from her attacks, I began leaving more of the cat care responsibilities to him.
Eventually, I even started wondering:
"If she never becomes comfortable with us, should we return the family to the outdoors once again?"
I-kun took excellent care of the cats, but Sara still showed no signs of becoming accustomed to human contact.
Watching him care for her while wearing two layers of work gloves and even rubber gloves was both heartbreaking and frustrating. Seeing how much effort he put in, only for Sara to remain so fearful, left me feeling helpless and discouraged.
Kitten park
The First Time the Kittens Were Free
Then, one day, as the suffocating atmosphere of daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic continued, I began feeling that, at the very least, I wanted to let the kittens out of their cages.
After closing the restaurant for the day, I started leaving the cage doors open so they could play freely in the back room before I went home.
After some time of doing this, one morning when I arrived at work, I noticed something strange.
The kittens were no longer inside the cages in the back room.
Instead, I found cats walking across the railway tracks of the diorama.
All three kittens were happily playing together, full of energy, just like children playing in a park.
For the first time, I was able to give these kittens a little freedom beyond the bars of their cages.
Of course, even though living indoors protected them from dangers such as outdoor accidents, it was still true that their lives were more restricted than those of cats living freely outside.
I had mixed feelings about it, but I remember telling them:
"If you can live here with us, I promise I will do my best to become a true cat-loving old man and create a peaceful life for all of us."
Looking back now, I realize just how much these cats were healing me as well.
Sharing on YouTube
A Video Made Just to Share an Update
Diorama Café already had a YouTube channel where we had uploaded videos of our diorama before.
However, the number of views and followers had never been particularly impressive.
Meanwhile, the children at the childcare center and nursery had become concerned about the rescued cat family. Of course, it was not only the children; their parents were also worried and wanted to know how the cats were doing.
However, during that time, it was difficult to simply invite people over to meet the cats whenever they wanted.
That was when I thought:
"Why don't I upload videos to YouTube as a way of sharing updates with everyone?"
The videos were originally created simply as a way to keep our friends, families, and supporters informed.
I assumed that the views would remain similar to our previous diorama videos, and we had no plans to promote them.
Of course, I had a small hope that they might also help introduce Diorama Café to more people, but I never expected too much from them.
We went viral on Twitter
The Day Everything Changed
For a while, the cat videos were uploaded only occasionally.
However, around that time, we began receiving comments that we had never received from our diorama videos alone.
People wrote things like:
"I can't leave my house because of the COVID-19 pandemic."
"I am staying home because of my illness, but watching these videos brings me comfort."
"My cancer markers have improved."
Seeing that there were people who were watching and finding comfort in our videos became a great source of encouragement.
I decided:
"If these simple videos can bring happiness to people, then I will upload them every day!"
I also connected the videos with our Twitter account, and after continuing these posts for more than a month, the day that would change everything arrived.
On September 11, a tweet promoting the video titled "Good Children Don't Go onto the Railway Tracks" suddenly received numbers we had never seen before:
Over 3,000 retweets, more than 100 quote tweets, and over 7,000 likes.
From that moment on, every time we uploaded a new video, the number of followers and likes continued to grow.
Why did it go viral?
I honestly do not know.
Was it because I included English in the tweet?
That is about the only thing I can think of, but even now, I still have no idea why it happened.
Media Requests Begin Arriving
After that, the number of views continued to increase. The videos also began appearing in Facebook's recommended videos, creating a chain reaction that brought even more attention.
However, from a purely numerical perspective, the numbers were still far from extraordinary. We had not reached the tens of thousands of views that are considered common for widely viewed content.
Then, we received a phone call from Mr. Hiramatsu, a reporter from the Daily Sports newspaper in Fukuoka Prefecture. He interviewed us, and on October 20, our story was published in an article.
This became Diorama Café's first appearance in the media.
The following month, we were featured in a news segment by NHK Osaka.
Thanks to Mr. Hiramatsu's article in Daily Sports, our story began spreading further through various web news outlets, international news media, and eventually nationwide news coverage.
As the end of the year approached and the impact of COVID-19 began intensifying once again, Diorama Café and the story of our cat family continued receiving attention.
At a time when uncertainty and difficulties were returning, these cats gave us renewed hope for bringing more people to our café.
For us, exhausted after everything we had experienced with COVID-19 and many other challenges, all we could say was:
"Thank you."
Sara, Still Behind the Bars
Going back a little in time, Sara's fear of humans had still not changed even by September.
From the day we first rescued her until September, we sought advice from Mr. Mishima, a longtime acquaintance who loves cats. My daughter also searched online for various information, and we repeatedly tried different approaches in an effort to slowly build trust with Sara.
We even tried using a famous jelly-like cat treat that many people call a "cat snack" to become closer to her.
However, Sara would only accept it for that brief moment while eating. As soon as she finished, she would turn back toward us and hiss.
This continued even after October. A new concern began to grow: if we kept her inside the cage like this, would she suffer from a lack of exercise?
Cats are said to grow to the equivalent of around 18 human years old within their first year of life, with intelligence comparable to that of a six-year-old human child. During their second year, they age approximately six more human years, reaching the equivalent of 24 years old after two years. After that, they are said to age about three to four human years for every additional year.
Since Sara had lived as a stray cat for two and a half years, that meant she was approximately 28 years old in human terms.
If this continued, she would lose her beautiful physique, and obesity could become a serious health risk for both humans and cats.
Because of this, we made a major decision.
On November 27, we opened the door of Sara's cage.
Live together
I released Sarah's mom, but that didn't change her hardships.
Then, toward the end of this year, the request for coverage accelerated, and we received a request from a program called "Mofumofu Mofumofu" by NHK, and shooting started. At this point, I have come to understand that it is a phenomenon beyond our imagination. The access, followers, and views of each SNS are incomparable to those before the cats appeared. Even though I was worried about the corona, I was able to wait outside. Freedom may have been lost for the cat family, but only a safe place could have been provided. It may be premature to call this situation a cat's gratitude, but we were saved by this family. Then, at the beginning of the year, I decided to stay at the store to become a "family" with them. I was really prepared to "live together".
Open the door
You may not be prepared. I just got into the life of this family. From the perspective of cats, we now know that the sense of distance was important. I prepared a simple bed and started to stay with him all the time, and finally Sarah's mother admitted that it was not dangerous. After more than half a year, I was able to get her recognition.
Certainly "the door has been opened".
It was "this family" who opened the closed heart that even thought "I want to end everything" in a difficult business situation, not in a cage.
At first, I didn't like cats very much.
However, the doors they opened made a surprising difference for themselves.
If this is a repayment for saving the kitten, then there is a surplus repayment.
"We" need to return the surplus.
This family and we decided to "live together" and start a new repayment. It continues with the story of opening the next door.