Japan

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.  

Everyone around the world is familiar with the Maneki Neko, the lucky cat who holds up his paw to invite customers and money into businesses.

But did you know there is a whole temple in Japan dedicated just for them? 

What could be better than replacing those boring and gloomy money bills with some adorable kitties? 

When Japan's Finance Ministry announced new official designs for the 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000-yen bills a few months ago, illustrator @bokoyai proposed an alternative design for the bank bills, with cute kittens cheerfully playing and purring, as part of his fictional "Cat bank". 

What a brilliant idea! 

We are squealing with glee while our account is purring!  

March 29 was a rare day in Japan. 

In addition to the restrictions in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, there was another reason that made people stay indoors that day - Heavy snowfall. One guy took advantage of the rare event and created the perfect crime scene involving one very white cat. 

Symbolizing the return of spring, the pink cherry blossom season in Japan mirrors human life—beautiful, cherished, but brief. Japanese Photographer, Chikushi, like many other worldwide photographers, brings us some charming photos of nature at its glorious moment. She started with photographing her favorite photo subject, her daughter, but then, on a recent trip to southern Izu (known for early blooming cherry blossoms), she discovered two new photogenic models in the form of two kittens playing among the sakura trees.

We know you all know Azuki, the little hedgehog from Japan with his perky ears and button nose. Recently, the cute hedgehog, who has more than 430K followers, traded his comfortable dream house for a fully-equipped miniature camping set with a cute tiny tent, kayak, and even a barbecue set. It seems like the little camper had the time of his life. Prepare yourself for a serious cuteness overload. 

The bond we have with our pets are so deep, it's difficult to put into words how much we love them and how strong those bonds we've created are.

There is someone who managed to capture that love and bond, in a series of stunning and heartwarming pics.

That photographer is Yasuto. A Japan-based photographer who captured the pure love and deep connection between this woman and her Shiba Inu. The images go beyond love, each snapshot is a work of art. 

These images were featured on Yasuto's Twitter page.