{"id":797933,"date":"2026-08-01T19:33:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T19:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/797933\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T19:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T19:33:18","slug":"nekonomics-or-the-great-japanese-cat-economy-economy-and-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/797933\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Nekonomics,\u2019 or the great Japanese cat economy | Economy and Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

The affection that Japanese people feel for cats<\/a> translates into spending that, this year, will reach 2.9 trillion yen (approximately $16 billion), a figure almost equal to the economic impact of the 2025 Osaka World Expo. But this amount doesn\u2019t include the hidden side of the cat economy: the care of homeless felines.<\/p>\n

Compiling statistics on Japanese pets has been a priority since the beginning of the 21st century, when the number of cats and dogs began to surpass the child population. In 2025, Japan had 8.8 million cats and 6.8 million dogs \u2014 a total of 15.6 million pets \u2014 exceeding the 13.6 million children under the age of 15 by two million, according to figures from the Japan Pet Food Association and the Statistics Bureau of Japan.<\/p>\n

Since 2015, the magnitude of the cat economy has been calculated by Katsuhiro Miyamoto, professor emeritus at Kansai University and author of a term that\u2019s now commonplace in Japanese news: \u201cNekonomics,\u201d a combination of neko (\u201ccat\u201d in Japanese) and economics. This innovative calculation includes direct spending on food, veterinary services and vaccinations. It also includes cat caf\u00e9s<\/a>, video games and other audiovisual products, as well as excursions to 14 islands where cats are abundant.<\/p>\n

The forecast for this year is close to three trillion yen, around the same amount that the 2025 Osaka World Expo<\/a> \u2014 the six-month-long event that brought delegates and industry leaders from 158 countries and regions to Japan \u2014 is projected to contribute to the economy. <\/p>\n

However, Naomi Furukawa, director of Chiyoda Nyan to Naru Caf\u00e9, an NGO located in Tokyo\u2019s Chiyoda district, tells EL PA\u00cdS that \u201cwe don\u2019t see a single penny of those figures.\u201d In just over 1,000 square feet, the shelter-caf\u00e9 houses 49 cats who have been rescued from the streets, or were abandoned by their owners. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the profits from Nekonomics benefit those who trade on the image of cats, rescue organizations \u2014 such as ours \u2014 depend on donations and public subsidies that are almost never enough,\u201d the shelter\u2019s director laments. <\/p>\n

The central Chiyoda district is home to Japan\u2019s Imperial Palace. However, despite bustling with people during the day and being the headquarters of large corporations, it\u2019s the least-populated district in Tokyo, with fewer than 70,000 residents. <\/p>\n

In 2011, Chiyoda became the first district in Japan to completely eliminate the killing of stray or abandoned cats, which \u2014 until the end of the 1990s \u2014 was the most common method for controlling the overpopulation of these animals. For the current management of stray cats, the district\u2019s administration uses the trap-neuter-return (TNR) method. <\/p>\n

Longevity<\/p>\n

The Chiyoda district also spends around 150,000 yen (about $900) per animal for the mandatory veterinary examination of cats whose owners have died and who must be taken to live with other animals in a shelter. Like the Japanese human population \u2014 which has one of the highest life expectancies in the world \u2014 domestic Japanese cats live longer than cats in other countries. Many of those left without their owners suffer from chronic illnesses that increase the cost of their care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost of veterinary care per cat amounts to about 200,000 yen [$1,200], and we often have to cover the costs ourselves,\u201d Furukawa adds. She explains that stray cats are no longer the most pressing problem. \u201cToday, the problem is the increase in the number of cats abandoned [or left behind] by elderly people, who move into nursing homes or pass away,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n

Her NGO also organizes adoption events, which have only moderate success due to the preference for kittens. However, she recounts that the neighborhood\u2019s most influential residents \u2014 the family of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako<\/a> \u2014 have twice accepted stray cats rescued by her NGO into their palace.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen public figures adopt mixed-breed cats from shelters instead of buying them from pet shops, it helps normalize the adoption of rescued animals,\u201d Furukawa concludes. <\/p>\n

Translated by Avik Jain Chatlani. <\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The affection that Japanese people feel for cats translates into spending that, this year, will reach 2.9 trillion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101,12662],"class_list":["post-797933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-osaka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}