Ongi Island is not just an island of rebirth under the gaze of Cat Island 📌 sightseeing

When I first set foot on Ongi Island, most of the phrase "This is the island of cats" in the community comes to mind. Indeed, the island is not large, it can be completed in two hours, and cat tracks can be seen everywhere. But when I actually walked in, I realized that the island looked like much more than a cat.
During our on-site visit on August 1st, we interviewed Mr. Yamato Fukui, head of the Ongijima Life Research Institute. His promotion of local revitalization is not only based on the tourism benefits promoted by the Seto Inland Sea Art Festival, but also returns to the core of local sustainable development, the education infrastructure. He chose to start by reviving his alma mater and rekindling hope on the island. As he said, "Only children's laughter can inject hope into an aging island."

Guided by this philosophy, Ogi Island has attracted more and more new residents in recent years, many of whom are digital nomads who work remotely. They yearn for the slow pace of living within walking distance and getting to and from the city by boat, and they also find opportunities to communicate with people and daily temperature in this land.

However, the emergence of "cats" also brings new challenges to the island. These cat groups due to "people" have added a lot of management tests to the daily life of the original residents, and there is room for running-in between health maintenance and cultural concepts. Even residents who like cats do not necessarily support cats as the main axis of sightseeing.

Another interviewee, Mr. Matsumoto, runs a guesthouse and café Sunset House, showing another possibility. He chose to embrace the image of a cat, attracting the attention of international travelers and becoming a daily meeting point for new residents to meet and communicate with each other. He said: "These cats make people have a common topic and life connection on the island."

Beyond the sightseeing gaze, Ongijima shows a sense of everyday life that does not live for pleasure, which is the temperature of culture accumulation, and it is also a new chapter that the island is quietly writing in the meeting of old and new - it is not only "Cat Island", but also "Island of Hope and Culture".

[Photo, text/Cai Jingxuan, Wang Luhua, Huang Zhicheng]