On a scale of one to ten how happy are you?

滿分 10 分，你給自己現在的心情打幾分？

I'm eleven.

11分。

Today we're at Tashirojima, aka CAT ISLAND!

我們今天來到田代島，也就是貓島。

Tashirojima is a small fishing island off the coast of Sendai—only 1.2 square miles in area.

田代島是個在仙台外海的小漁島，只有 1.2 平方英里。

And… it is inhabited by an extraordinary number of cats.

還有..這裡的貓群數量非常龐大。

This island smells very strongly of dead fish.

島上有超濃的死魚味

You're pied cat piper.

你是貓的吹笛手吧？

This is the best day of my life.

這真是我人生中最棒的一天

They're all coming.

他們都過來了

This place is heaven. Never going home.

這地方真是天堂，我都不想回家了

By the way, fun fact: this isn't the only cat island in Japan.

順道一提，有趣的是，這並不是日本唯一的貓島

There's another cat island called Aoshima in Ehime Prefecture.

另位一座貓島是在愛媛縣的青島

This however, is the main cat island.

不過，這裡是最主要的貓島

It's got a cat shrine,

這裡有貓神社、

cat museum,

貓博物館、

cat toys,

貓玩具、

cat figures,

貓玩偶、

cat food,

貓食、

cat houses,

貓屋、

cat bus,

貓公車、

cat cats,

一堆貓，

and finally crazy cat people, like me, Sharla, and Jun.

還有一些超愛貓的人，像是我，Sharla，跟Jun

And then there's this guy.

最後，還有一個人...

Cat island takes a 2600 yen (about $21), 50 minute ferry ride to get to.

搭渡輪到貓島一趟要 2600 日幣（約美金21塊），大約五十分鐘

The ferry only runs a couple of times per day,

渡輪一天只有幾班而已

which means if you miss it or it gets canceled, you get stuck on cat island.

換句話說，要是錯過船或是剛好遇到停駛，就只能被困在貓島上了

Not exactly the worst thing in the world.

這也不算是什麼最糟糕的事

He let us know we found the shrine!

他讓我們知道我們找到貓神社了

We made it to the cat shrine and this cat is so happy to see us.

我們要前往貓神社，這隻貓咪很高興看到我們

We brought food.

我們有帶食物

There's one more over here.

那裏還有一隻

It's basically a cat person's paradise…

這真的是愛貓人的天堂

in theory.

理論上是這樣

You see, cat island was never meant to be a tourist destination.

你看，貓島原本就不是觀光勝地的料

The cats were originally introduced to keep down mice populations,

這些貓原本是養來抓老鼠的

and both superstition and a fondness for the cats led to an explosion in their population.

最後，因為當地人對貓的迷信與喜愛，導致貓的數量大幅成長

More than 100 stray cats now live on this island,

島上的流浪貓超過一百隻，

and while some small measures have been taken to provide for tourism,

島上有些為了觀光所採取的小措施

it seems quite empty…

不過看起來真的很空...

It seemed like we were alone until we slowly started spotting people just sitting quietly in the shadows.

我們一直覺得，島上似乎只有我們，直到剛剛才發現，那裡有個人安靜地坐在陰影下。

The population has halved in the last 20 years.

最近二十年以來，島上的人口減少了一半

Now there are only 85 residents, 70 of which are elderly.

現在只有85位居民，其中有70位是老人

Here you go.

給你

Thank you!

謝謝！

No, thank you.

不客氣，謝謝

Oh! Your change!

啊，你的零錢！

Sorry! Thank you!

抱歉，謝謝！

Rachel, what are you doing?

Rachel，你在幹嘛？

I'm getting dumb today. I'm so excited about the cats.

今天我好笨，因為看到貓太興奮了嘛！

I can't think about anything else.

我沒辦法想其他事情。

The island's village is actually classified as terminal,

這島上的村落被分類為「晚年期」

which means it's on the verge of disappearing completely.

意思是，這個村子已經在消失邊緣了

The economy isn't exactly booming.

經濟也不怎麼發達

Cat Island is less like a fantastical Japan wonderland from your dreams,

貓島其實不太是你所幻想的那種日本歡樂島

like Fox Village,

狐狸村就是一個觀光勝地

and more like… a real place.

這裡真的就是座普通的島

It's just a place, with real world problems.

這個地方有很多實際的問題要處理

The cats are strays, which means beyond being fed by villagers and visitors,

這裡的貓都是流浪貓，除了一些村民跟遊客會餵貓之外，

they don't seem to be getting much care.

牠們看起來沒有得到太多照顧

A large portion of the cats we saw were sick or injured.

很多貓看起來不太健康，有些還受傷了。

Is she okay?

她還好嗎？

Yeah, the baby doesn't look so good.

那隻小貓看起來不太好。

And it felt very sad knowing that there really wasn't anything we could do for them,

難過的是，我們無法真的為牠們做些什麼，

other than buy them food.

除了買一些貓食之外

You want some, too? Here.

你要來一些嗎？這邊

It isn't all bad news, though.

但也不全是只有壞消息

Cat Island was directly in the path of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami,

貓島在 2011 年 311 大地震時，正巧在海嘯的路線上。

and while there was some damage the island managed to survive,

雖然造成了一些傷害，但是

along with the cats.

貓島居民仍是與貓咪們一起撐下來了

The water is all the way down there, and came up to here during 311.

311 海嘯時，水淹到這裡

From here on out, we can only hope that someone else with a giant love of cats will find a way to

現在我們也只能祈禱，能有個愛貓的善心人士能夠找到方法

manage the situation so that the cats can get proper care and food, or at least get fixed.

解決目前的困境，讓貓咪們能受到合適的照顧，獲得足夠的食物，至少讓牠們健康一點

All in all it's a beautiful island, with a priceless experience,

總言之，這座美麗的島給我們無價的回憶

and I wouldn't trade my day with those cats for anything.

用什麼都無法交換我今天與貓咪們共度的一天

I also still recommend people visit.

我仍會推薦大家來這裡

You can at the least still bring them food and attention, or toys to play with.

你可以帶些食物與玩具，來跟牠們玩

So if you have a chance to go to Miyagi Prefecture, try to make it up to Ishinomaki port and check out cat island!

如果你有機會到宮城縣，可以經由石卷市港，順路到貓島瞧瞧

He let us know we found the shrine.

牠讓我們知道我們找到貓神社了

He just stands there and calls for people.

牠就站在那，等著接待人們

This way.

走這邊

He's the guardian of the cat shrine.

牠就像是貓神社的守衛一樣