A short fer­ry ride from Japan’s east coast, Tashiro­ji­ma has a pop­u­la­tion of one hun­dred humans who are vast­ly out­num­bered by their fur­ry friends. Orig­i­nal­ly the cats were encour­aged since the island pro­duced silk, and mice are a nat­ur­al preda­tor of silk­worms. Local fish­er­men regard­ed them as good luck. The island even has a cat shrine, along with new­ly built cat shaped cab­ins for tourists to stay in. It goes with­out say­ing that there are no dogs allowed.