Neil Hopcroft

The Cat with Three Passports by CJ Fentiman

[Read aloud to Adelle]

This book starts, as many books about Japan do, with English speakers landing a job teaching the language in a foreign country. After a false start in Osaka they return to find teaching jobs in a small town in the mountains. They accidentally inherit two cats with their ex proctologists apartment and manage to grow their cat family by rescuing a kitten from a road junction.

This is a book about some of the culture shock they experienced living in the country, the way things are different, and the way things are the same but in surprising ways. The experiences of CJ and her partner Ryan are grounded by their relationships with their cats and the need to provide for them even when they are uprooted and move to the other side of the country.

Their social circle consisted of locals and people from English speaking countries, and there were familiar characteristics to them – many people who are so proud of Japanese culture and customs they want to share them with gaijin who know nothing of the customs. It brought back happy memories of some of my days out with Japanese friends.

Their life in Japan was very different to the life I had there, they were more integrated into the society and culture because they were in a small town where there was not the ability to escape that integration offered by Tokyo.

The book follow their life from moving to the country to their plans to move away after their two years of teaching, preparing their cat to be taken with them.