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What I Thought About “Protecting Life” on Japan’s Cat Protection Day
— For Sakura Then, and for Momiji Now
🌱 Chapter 1 – What does it mean to protect a life?
On Japan’s Cat Protection Day, I found myself reflecting on this question—not just about cats, but about all the lives we choose to care for.
I live with a Shiba Inu named Momiji, not a cat, but the kind of love we give doesn’t depend on species.
Somewhere deep in my childhood memories, I still feel the warmth of a big dog’s back.
I probably just imagined it larger than life—but the comfort it gave me was real.
Maybe the feeling of “protection” starts there:
in a quiet memory, long before we know what responsibility really means.
🌱 Chapter 2 – Stray Cats Are Still With Us
Back in the 1970s, it wasn’t uncommon to see stray dogs in town.
These days, they’ve disappeared so completely, it’s like they were never there to begin with.
But stray cats? They’re still with us.
I found myself wondering—why is that?
Dogs are required by law to be registered and vaccinated for rabies.
No collar means they’re clearly seen as “strays.”
But cats don’t have the same system.
They don’t bark, they don’t disturb neighbors.
Even if they’re strays, people often just smile and think, “Oh, how cute.”
And so, these unclaimed lives are quietly allowed to stay—unnoticed, yet present.
Maybe stray cats are lives that were overlooked.
They’re the continuation of lives no one ever truly took in.
So I ask again:
How are we supposed to face the lives we see—but pretend not to?
🌱 Chapter 3 – The Decision My Grandfather Made
My parents once told me a story from the past.
Our family dog had given birth to puppies,
but they couldn’t raise them all—so my grandfather killed them with a stone.
It sounds unthinkable now.
But back then, it was considered a way to protect the family.
Letting them go meant they’d become strays.
Abandoning them would’ve led to more suffering.
People in those days didn’t take life lightly.
They were simply forced to make hard choices—out of survival, not cruelty.
🌱 Chapter 4 – Behind the Word “Protection”
By the way, “Cat Protection Day” was established in 2020 by the Japan Cat Certification Committee.
In Japan, over 20,000 cats are euthanized each year in government shelters.
Most of them were abandoned by owners—or born as strays.
Today, we hear words like “rescued dog” or “rescued cat.”
Animals people can no longer care for are brought to shelters or centers,
waiting to be adopted by someone new—waiting to be saved.
But the truth is, many of them aren’t saved at all.
The end of their lives happens somewhere deep inside a shelter,
or in a place no one ever sees.
It’s like the meat we buy at the supermarket.
Someone else does the killing, someone else sees the blood.
We just get the clean, packaged version.
And maybe that’s why—we no longer see the weight of life as clearly as we used to.
🌱 Chapter 5 – Seeing It Through to the End
It’s not just about welcoming a life.
It’s also about being there at the end—witnessing it, accepting it.
That might be our final responsibility.
Maybe… it’s by standing beside someone in their last moments
that we truly begin to understand what life means.
That’s why, when I look at Momiji sleeping beside me, I remind myself:
I need to stay with her, all the way to the end.
Just like I did with Sakura before her.
🌱 Chapter 6 – Sakura’s Tears, and the Warmth of Momiji
When I was raising Sakura, I didn’t really believe she’d die one day.
But when that day finally came, the shock was too much.
I ended up crying in the bathroom—where no one could see me.
That was the first time I truly realized:
Life really does come to an end.
And that’s why now, I want to stay close to Momiji’s life until the very end.
To be there for her, all the way through.
Back then with Sakura, I worried too much about discipline.
I might’ve been a little too strict because it was all so new to me.
But now—with Momiji—I spoil her.
I talk to her. I pet her.
And I try to treasure every moment we share.
Thank you, Momiji, for being with me.
Just that alone makes this ordinary day feel a little warmer.
🌱 Final Reflection – A Question for You
Welcoming a life comes with joy and hope.
But when we face its end—
that’s when we’re truly asked: what does it mean to protect?
Through my days with Momiji,
I’m finally beginning to understand what it means to take on a life—not just love it, but truly carry it.
There are lives we see…
but pretend not to.
How should we face them?
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