If you grew up in Japan in "80s, you probably remember those cats in the high school uniform,standing on two feet like human. They were called "Namennayo(Don't bullshit with me) cats"
They were so popular at that time. They were on the newspapaer ads, stationaries,
keychains, stickers, the candy packages...they were everywhere, including tv show.
I had to beg my grandpa to buy their stationaries cause all of my classmates at the school had them except me.
But somehow, the strange rumor started to spread.soon after..some people said those cats were tied up with wires. Other people said those poor felines were drugged before the photoshoot. The most scary story was that they were dead stuffed cats! These urban myth spreaded very quickly. Soon all merchandise started disappear from the market. I put away my stationaries. Name neko was't cool anymore.
Almost 10 years later, I was at the Urban outfitters in San Francisco and I was really shocked to find Namenayo stationaries, with updated Hip hop look. How is it possible, especially in San Francisco, where people are very conscious about animal rights?
I made some research and found out the Nameneko photographer's explanation
about how he took pictures of the cats. Surprisingly, according to the photographer's claim, those cats were not standing. They were sitting! And once the cats put on costumes, they finished photoshoot in 10 minutes because it was the limit to distract kitten's attention.
Main "namennayo" cat, Matakichi became a mother of four and lived 16years.
I still don't like the pictures of animals dressed up as humans, but I was very relieved to know that those cats were taken care of by the photographer after they retired from modeling job.
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