ArticleKey #28: A Hanging Town

Animal's Paradise in Japan isn't limited to islands. The so-called Deer Park in Nara is probably more famous than the Imperial Palace in the same town - so much so that selling deer crackers had become a full-time job, and stalls are everywhere around the park. Everyone buys crackers, too - locals and visitors, lone travelers and families with kids. And the ones benefiting the most from those crackers stalls (apart from the sellers, of course)? The deer!

Neither is Japanese love and appreciation for animals limited to flesh and blood ones. For instance, there is a whole alley devoted to cats that are very different from those seen on Cat Island

The cats in question come in all shapes, sizes and colours - a genuine motley crew. Sometimes, it's even difficult to spot them because they are hiding in plain sight

Occasionally, passersby are greeted not only by remarkable individuals but by whole families, as well

The Alley is famous nation-wide, completely unique, and it definitely deserves its own entry - but for the fact that it would be more like a photo album because those cats, silent as they are, speak for themselves loud and proud. The town they live in doesn't - and, as the title of this entry suggests - it's outstanding in its own right, enough so to remind of one of the Original Seven. 

The story of the town can best be told as a love story featuring a young woman who stumbled upon an old student dormitory and loved it so much that she purchased it and moved in from a big city. Eventually, she turned it into a guesthouse - to welcome travelers from all over the world - but in the meantime, she would go for long walks in the neighbourhood. The purpose was merely practical: to learn her ways in and out, and make sure she would be able to find her new home! It took her several weeks to feel confident in her ability to do so, because the task proved to be much more challenging than it sounded: one wrong turn would result in a long detour that might eventually bring her back where she started. A typical street in that neighbourhood was likely to look like that

or that

or that

Streets being terraces leaning on rocks and overlooking lush greenery rolling down all the way to the town proper, the residential part of the district does indeed remind of the legendary Gardens of Babylon. The upper part of the Garden District sports a number of little nuggets

and a not so little Lantern Alley

not to mention, among many other things, a cafe with a view and art museum.

Fittingly, the Cat Alley is also located in the same district…