By Kaylyn Amigon

Know a cat lover or are one yourself? Then this is the perfect place to meet some new feline friends. Aoshima, also known as Cat Island, is an island in Ehime Prefecture, Japan, known for its large number of feline residents.

They were first introduced to combat rodents on fishing boats, but remained on the island and reproduced in large numbers. This is a very popular tourist island that has also been named cat paradise due to its overwhelming residents being felines with a ratio of 36:1 humans to cats. It’s the perfect place for cat lovers and those looking to make furry friends since most of the cats are friendly and always come up to tourist looking for scratches, pats and treats.

The island itself is around roughly one mile long and had lovely scenery and a wonderful view from the port that brings you to the island along with a feline population of the island being reported as between 120 and 130 between 2015 and 2018. Aoshima is accessible via a ferry departing from in front of JR Iyo-Nagahama station in Port Nagahama, which takes around 30 minutes.