If anyone visits anything Japan Is it interesting to watch the video on the Japanese streets, you can see something unusual about the calm back ribbons of these neighborhoods. Their strips are often lined with rows of transparent plastic bottles of water, neatly located along the fence, in the corners of the gardens, near houseplants or along the edges of the walls.
At first glance, they may look the way someone forgot to remove after a picnic, but they are actually there for the purpose, amazing that it’s not what you expect. These bottles are called locally as “Nekoyoke”, which means “cat repellents”.
Practice may look incomprehensible to outsiders, but it has become a familiar part of Japanese urban places. It is a bizarre mixture of everyday logic, old beliefs and practicality. While bottles do not harm the animals, the belief that they prevent stray cats enter these spaces and cause a mess. Although the logic behind this has been questioned many times, the ritual is still ongoing and has been passed down from generation to generation from traditions and hope, despite the fact that there is no scientific evidence. But the question remains how this peculiar habit began and even works?
How did the practice “Nekoyoke” started?
The idea of using water bottles to scare animals has not actually emerged in Japan. Started in WestPerhaps back in the 1980s in parts of Europe and The United StatesWhere plastic bottles filled with water were placed on the lawns to contain dogs. Over time, this practice made your way to Japan, but for the case with cats. Because there are no stray dogs in Japan, people started using this method specifically to avoid stray cats from their gardens, walls and thresholds.
How does it work?
There are several popular theories about why water bottles are allegedly reflecting cats. The only belief is that sunlight or even street light shines through the bottle at night and reflects the sudden flashes of light that scares cats. Another theory is that cats see their distinct reflection in the water and impressed it. Some even say that bottles confuse the cat’s depth. Although none of these theories have been scientifically proven, it is still ongoing.
So, does it really work?
True, not quite. Research and animal behavior experts have found no evidence that cats may contain water bottles. Although this method is harmless, it does not actually keep cats. On cloudy days or in shaded areas, the expected trick of light does not work at all. However, people use them hoping they can help either just by habit.
This is done more out of cultural curiosity
Nowadays, the location of water bottles has become more cultural than the prevention of cats. Although this may not stop a curious cat, it is a harmless practice that shows a neat, creative and simple but creative way of solving Japan’s daily problems. Even if the logic does not withstand, it is one of the little things that make the Japanese neighborhood a little more interesting.
Credit on the photo: Japanese
