Japan Made The World’s First-Ever Cat Street View
See the world like a cat, no whiskers or tails required
We may not be able to do all the fun things that cats do, like napping all day or always landing on our feet. But now we can finally see the world as a cat does thanks to a new project by Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture.
The site allows you to explore the small town of Onomichi, famous for its temple walks. Oh, and it’s heavily populated by cats—it even has its own museum dedicated to those moving maneki-neko cat dolls you might have seen in restaurants:
The cat street view works just like the street view on Google Maps—in fact, this site was made by some of the same technicians and with the same equipment that made Google’s version, a Hiroshima official told the Wall Street Journal. The tool allows you to explore the town’s streets, complete with meta tags to alert you to where other cats are located or to kitty-friendly establishments, all from about a foot off the ground. And as if you could forget that you were in a cat’s perspective, the map punctuates each click with a meow.
Welcome page
Finding some kitty friends
Hiroshima’s tourist board plans to add more maps to the site next month. And though it’s unclear if any similar maps will be made elsewhere in the future, its positive reception online bodes well. “Hopefully this will become the first in a series, with additional features including a guide to the nicest potted plants in town for fancy pooping time; the warehouses of upscale boutiques with the best cardboard boxes; and residences of celebrity cats with the most intriguing-smelling butts,” TechCrunch writes.