Japan Cat Network

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We are an animal welfare organization that helps people.

There are good and kind people interested in helping animals all over Japan, and we are here to help them do it better. We don't think this kind of work should have to be done alone, and we believe that when people get help, they can do so much more. We also believe that we can have the biggest impact on the problems for animals by starting with the source--people.

We are not interested in building one big shelter.

Our shelters, and the sheltering efforts that we support, maintain a population of under 50 animals, spay and neuter every intake (with the exception of severe health conflicts), and have strong rehoming or fostering programs. We believe that quality of life is paramount, and that animals should not live in cages long term. JCN shelter space is reserved almost entirely for pets that are being helped by those active in doing regular rescue work or for the pets of people who have lost their homes suddenly. Other rescued animals are kept by rescuers in their homes, with advice and often material support, until permanent homes can be found. We believe that sheltering should be small, community based, and manageable by local volunteers. In the future, we hope to support the start up of small sheltering efforts across the country.

We are a network.

We are forming an army, rescuer by rescuer, and this helps us to better support each other. Our members have come together to transport kittens across the country, to answer health and behavioral questions, to grieve over the loss of our much loved furry companions, and to be there for physical and emotional support during the stressful time of finding animals in need. Like all families, we have had our share of conflicts, but we have weathered those conflicts and we are growing stronger together every day.

We don't take problems away.

We won't take the kittens that you don't want or the cat that you saw on a street corner. We'll help you rescue the animals that you see in distress, by providing advice and other means of support. We'll help you to find low cost spay neuter for your pets or for the cats outside that you feed. We'll help you catch the ones you can't touch, and we'll tell you how to address your neighbors' concerns about the cats living outside in your neighborhood. We'll also advise or support you in finding new homes for friendly pets that you can't keep.

We have a very low budget.

We have run for nearly 15 years, helping hundreds of people and their animals across the country, on an all volunteer staff. Much of our work is funded by individual rescuers, and much of our earlier sheltering expenses were funded completely out of our founders' full time teaching salaries. We have set up a rescue base in Fukushima, completely staffed by the hundreds of volunteers that have visited, lived in, and otherwise supported, since March 2011. We remain dedicated to keeping our organizational running costs as low as possible. Our Fukushima shelter operational costs currently run under 200,000 Japanese Yen per month, on a regular basis.

We are No Kill.

We believe that animal rescue means a lifetime commitment to the animals that we take into our care, for better or for worse. The only reason we choose to euthanize an animal is because we feel that animal's quality of life is severely threatened and there is also little to no chance of recovery. We do not believe that being No Kill is a license for overcrowding, and that we must carefully consider every new intake, making the animals already in our care our first priority.

We are committed to the spay and neuter of all cats and dogs.

We believe that the problem of unwanted animals will not be solved until there is an increased commitment to population control. Our members have had to see kittens and puppies bound for destruction at animal welfare centers. We have had to nurse dying cats that have contracted unnecessary diseases, as a result of the mating process. We have seen overcrowded and completely unmanageable animal rescue efforts, with regularly exploding populations and terrible quality of life. We have had to pick up dead animals from beside roads, which they very likely wandered across in search of mates. So, we know for certain that there should not be one more unwanted animal brought into this world unnecessarily, and that spayed or neutered animals have safer and healthier lives. Spay and neuter is our number one focus in helping people help pets, and it is more important to us than any other single aspect.

About Us

What We Do

We help people help pets. We believe that people helping pets should not have to give up everything to do so. If you have a good local project, or an idea for one, we want to assist you. We also want to try to help you solve any cat or dog related problems.

Media

See videos, articles, and photos of Japan Cat Network in the media. If you are interested in helping us get the word out with your blog, show, podcast, or in print, please contact us!

Our History

JCN was founded by two American expats, who have been living in Japan, teaching English, and helping cats since 1993.They started the group after having had success helping the cats in their own community through TNR, a method of population control in which stray cats are trapped for neutering and returned to the location. When they first arrived in town there were very sad cases of sick and dying cats, all over the community, and they found this completely intolerable. After researching, and deciding on TNR as the best plan, they got started. TNR has worked wonders in their community. The remaining cats are healthier, look better, are less annoying to neighbors, and are no longer reproducing. They realized that this could work all over Japan, and also thought how much easier it would have been to get started, if there had been a group to turn to for support. JCN is that group, and we'd like to help others who want to start TNR programs in their communities. On March 11, 2011, the Tohoku area of Japan was devastated. A magnitude 9 earthquake off of the east coast triggered a tsunami that damaged the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, causing a nuclear disaster. Hundreds of thousands of residents were displaced or evacuated, forced to leave behind companion and farm animals. One of the founders began working in Fukushima in March 2011 to rescue animals left behind and to take in animals from evacuating owners with nowhere to turn. The JCN Inawashiro Shelter was established in May 2011 as the focal point of this effort. It continues to serve the people and animals of Fukushima whose lives remain overturned.

Shelter

The JCN Inawashiro is located in the city of Inawashiro in Fukushima prefecture in the Tohoku region. The JCN Inawashiro shelter was created in May 2011 in response to the Tohoku disaster. JCN felt that a base of operations in Fukushima was necessary for rescue efforts in the radiation-evacuated areas near the 20km exclusion zone. Updates from both the Shiga shelter and the Fukushima shelter can be found at our blog

NPO Certification

Our Mission

Our Work

We do this through Trap, Neuter, Return programs, education and awareness through festivals and events that promote animal welfare, like cat and dog meet-and-greets and distributing fliers about the benefits of spaying and neutering pets. We encourage networking, and we answer questions, loan materials, and/or connect people to local animal welfare services available in their communities. Since the disaster of March 11, 2011, we have been in Fukushima 24/7 to help with the rescue and recovery efforts for animals left behind in radiation-evacuated areas. We have established close ties with the communities of Kawamata and Namie and continue to travel there multiple times a week to provide life-sustaining food to abandoned cats and dogs, to pick up sick, injured, or young animals, and to control the populations of the stray and feral cats through spaying and neutering. Additionally, we have two no-kill animal shelters and a network of foster homes across the country. For more information about animals available for fostering or adoption, please visit our Adoption/Fostering guidelines or see our available cats or dogs.

Our Past Work

Here are some of the rescue efforts we have worked on in the past, including lists of animals rescued.

2011 rescue list

In March 2011, the organization was restructured and refocused, so the list is somewhat incomplete.

2010 rescue list

2009 rescue list

2008 rescue list

2013

DrayCat - The photographer Draycat featured a slide show of JCN cats in the Fukushima shelter on his website.
Anne Kaneko - Anne Kaneko devoted a blog post to Japan Cat Network.
Deborah Barnes - Deborah Barnes of Zee and Zoey did a followup interview with a JCN volunteer on the second anniversary of the 3/11 disaster.

2012

Foreign Press Center - The Foreign Press Center Japan published an article in English and Japanese about Japan Cat Network and the continuing efforts in Fukushima.
Tokyo Notice Board - The weekly English language magazine Tokyo Notice Board published an article by volunteer Josh Lepage about his experience with the Fukushima shelter.
Deborah Barnes - Deborah Barnes of Zee and Zoey did a followup interview with a JCN volunteer on the second anniversary of the 3/11 disaster.
RTE Radio 1 - RTE Radio produced a documentary segment about JCN rescue operations immediately after the 3/11 disaster and the ongoing rescue efforts.
WRAL - WRAL, a North Carolina news station, interviewed JCN volunteer Alex Lane about her experience with the animals in Japan and about the after-effects of the 3/11 disaster.
Deborah Barnes - Deborah Barnes of Zee and Zoey chronicled the issues plaguing stray, feral, homeless, and 'owned' cats in Japan in a multi-part series based on interviews with JCN volunteers. Part 1, Part 2. Special thanks to Jen for helping to coordinate this piece.
Conscious Cat - The Conscious Cat revisited the plight of cats in Japan and JCN's work to better the lives of four-legged friends in Fukushima and beyond, one year after the 3/11 disaster.
Animal Planet - The Animal Planet show Must Love Cats visited the JCN Inawashiro and Shiga shelters in October 2011 to film the efforts to help stray, homeless, and feral cats in Japan. JCN volunteers were delighted to meet the fantastic crew and host, John Fulton, during their multi-day filming trip. The episode aired March 10th at 8 PM EST on Animal Planet.
NPR's - NPR's All Things Considered produced a short piece about volunteers in Fukushima and included JCN for a perspective on volunteering with animals.