Japan

The cutest squirrel EVER. Yup. We said it. 

The Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel looks like a real-life Disney character brought to life. Those giant eyes, that perfect round body, those giant eyes -- again! We're in love. We want to be surrounded by these squirrels as we sing nonsense about washing the dishes or folding the laundry. 

The Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel is native to Japan, you'd find it in the "sub-alpine forests and boreal evergreen forests on Honshu and Kyushu islands." And good news, this squirrel faces absolutely no threats and is listed as "least-concern species".

We don't know much of this world but we do know we love this squirrel. 

Once a week, we will be featuring an extraordinary animal account on Instagram! Their story, the adorable pictures, and pawesome videos! This week's spotlight goes to the traveling cats; Daikichi and Fuku-Chan! 

Daikichi and Fuku-chan are both rescue cats, rescued by their owner Daisuke Nagasawa, who has been traveling Japan (with Daikichi and Fuku-chan) and documenting their adventures! With over 1000 destinations visited, these cats are definitely living their best lives and seeing the world at the same time! 

When the pandemic struck, it halted their travels but they continued to share some amazing travel photos and videos from their previous adventures! Check them out below. 

Read up on last week's star on Instagram, Sam, The Eyebrow Cat!

How lovely is that? Imagine your country bing as clean as Japan to the point where you see fish living and swimming in the street drain canal? 

When it comes to cleanliness, Japan is at a whole other level. The Japanese are known to practice cleanliness regardless of location and we're taught to do so at a young age. Children volunteer monthly to pick up litter from the streets surrounding their schools. Neighborhoods even have street-cleaning events! 

If you're a tourist in Japan, you'll notice you cannot find a single garbage can on the streets. Each person is responsible for their trash and carries a plastic bag to fill with their daily trash which they can dispose of at any department store or subway station.

If only the rest of the world to step up and meet at Japan's level. In the meantime, enjoy these videos and images of koi fish living in Japan's drain canals: 

Cats are cats, even in Japan! 

If you're a cat owner, you don't have to understand Japanese to understand the context behind each one of these comics... It would help, no doubt, but it's not completely necessary. 

Artist @kyuryuZ or Cure Z on NekoNavi.jp has a gift for conveying the story past a language barrier. Below are some of the wonderful comics we simply had to share, along with some google translations of the story to each. 

Remember to read from Right to Left

Japanese contemporary artist, Tokuhiro Kawai, is an expert with oil paintings but also a true cat lover.

He used his mastery to create surreal images similar to those created by the Italian painters of the High Renaissance. 

But instead of biblical figures, kings and queens, Kawai infuses his paintings with cherubs, children and cats. 

Lots of cats.

Take a look at some of Kawai's most interesting works that put our feline friends as their centerpiece.

Japanese people are known for their love for cats. 

"Kuroneko Yamato" is one of Japan's largest delivery services. In English, it means "Black Cat Yamato". 

No wonder, then, that the company has recruited an adorable black kitty as its new delivery driver. 

Don't you just love wool-felt art? It is actually done by knitting wool fibers into shapes with special needles. 

The recent creation getting hype in Japan is a "cat frames" by local artist, Fujitasatomi's (@fujita_satomi).
Scroll down to see what Fujita is doing with these ordinary-looking wool-felt fabric and eye parts…

With a closer look, you can see that each cat has a different facial expression.

How cute are they?!

Nasu Animal Kingdom zoo in Japan recently welcomed a new member to their family: an adorable female kitten sand cat.

The cat, still to be named, was born in late April and has been growing strong under the care of zookeepers.
Upon birth, she weighed in at 59 grams and measured 13 cm from head to tail. While she was weak early on, she has dramatically increased in size and weight. 

Sand Cats, as their name suggests, are found in deserts throughout the world. Measuring about 40 to 60 cm in length, they are one of the smallest wildcats in the world.

Luckily for us all, the zoo has been releasing footage of their new kitten on YouTube, as part of a daily diary. And it only takes a microsecond to realize what all the excitement is about—we are totally in love!  

Story via: The Japan Times

Northern Japan is known for its wealth of rice that produces a rich harvest each Fall. And after that rice is harvested, there's a huge amount of rice straw that is leftover called "wara."

The Japanese people are also known to not waste anything so that excess wara was reused in plenty of ways: roofs, fertilizer, livestock feed, and historically used for a variety of goods that have been since replaced with modern advances. 

One area decided to do something different with the excess rice straw. In the region's capital city, Niigata, they have used the rice straw to create giant and incredible animal sculptures. The Wara Art Festival has been an annual event for the past decade!

Story via Atlas Obscura

Japanese Twitter user and arts and crafts handiworker @trill_yukawa, or Trill, decided to build a new house for his kitty, Hachi. 

Up till then, Hachi lived in an Amazon cardboard box which he quite liked but was starting to be too small for him.  

Trill knew it was time to build a special new house for his beloved cat, one that used his creative capabilities. 

With the kanji for "fish" (sakana) and Hachi's name on it, it looks like Hachi wasn't just getting a new house, but their very own sushi restaurant! 

Check out his working process on this very detailed design, all based on the Japanese traditional style including sliding doors, hand-painted windows, roof tiles and of course, a pet heater. 

But at the end of the day, Trill knew only Hachi's opinion counts.

Maybe it was the appeal of possible sushi inside, but Hachi took to it quite naturally!

Some pet beds are cooler than others and these instant noodle soup cup beds from Japan have definitely nailed it. 

The online craze started when a twitter user posted some pics and a video of her Shiba Inu puppy, Yuki, noddin' off, and having a sweet dream in one of these beds. It instantly went viral. 

The noodle bed comes in a variety of flavors and can be purrfect for any pet this size. 

This is definitely one of the most wholesome Twitter accounts we have seen lately. 

The head priest at the temple in Tochigi prefecture, Japan, is documenting the four adorable cats living with him. 

As you can see, it seems like they all very close relationships.    

Yes, you've heard that right. Facetime with eels. 

Tokyo's Sumida aquarium put out the call to action earlier this week due to the lack of visitors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and naturally, it went viral. 

The spotted garden eels have been burrowing in sand and are "beginning to forget about" humans, which is worrying their keepers.

In order to keep their fishy friends socially engaged, the Tokyo aquarium is organizing a "Face Show Festival." During the festival, which will run from Sunday to Tuesday, it will install five tablets near the tank, hoping members of the public will call...

The bird species called "long-tailed tits" is a common bird found throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, Western, Central and East Asia. The species usually have brown feathers.

However, in Hokkaido, Japan, the long-tailed tit have pure white faces and they seriously look like the cutest cotton balls in the world. 

Neko Neko Shokupan bakery in Tokyo, Japan, sure knows how to draw the attention (And hearts) of their cat lovers customers. 

The bakery which usually offers the special 'shokupan", a fluffy white bread served traditionally for breakfast toast in Japan, has come up with this adorable new twist to it - cat-shaped bread which comes in four feline flavors- chocolate, cheese, red bean, and plain flavors. 

The bakery prides itself on using 100% milk to give their bread a rich and milky flavor with extra fluff.

And while going to Japan to taste it might be temporarily impossible at the moment, it could make a perfect quarantine DIY, so scroll down to the end of the post for the recipe.

Story via: Japan Today

Japanese artist, Yuko Sakuda of yucoco cafe packs all the cuteness in this world into one strap-sized miniature of cats, hedgehogs, and Shiba Inu that any animal lover would be dying to have as a phone strap. 

But the most popular item in his collection is a series of cats that look as if they are being picked up by the scruff of their necks. Awww! 

The series became so popular in Japan that it's been turned into actual capsule toys. 

Check out some of his creations.