The news these days is often depressing at worst and frustrating at best. It’s easy to let it get us down. Never fear… The News Blender has you covered. Once a week we feature Something Good and, in return, all you have to do is tell us something good that has happened to you this week, something you are thankful for, a joke, a cute animal story, an inspiring tale of heroics, a Random Act of Kindness… SOMETHING good.
Today’s something good, since we feature dogs doing good far more often than our feline friends, is cats to the rescue.
The Diorama Restaurant in Osaka, Japan was opened in 2018. It featured elaborate miniature trains travelling through scenic routes around the dining room. Business was good until Covid hit and the restaurant was closed for a couple months, like so many around the world. Even after they were open once again, business was so slow that owner Naoki Teraoka feared he would have to close for good, according to MSN.
Amid this financial turmoil in June of 2020, a tiny, sickly 10-day-old kitten appeared outside the restaurant. Although times were tough, Naoki and his family took the kitty in, cared for him, and named him Simba. They had food to spare, since customers were scarce, so when Simba’s mom showed up a few days later, they fed her too. A couple days later, she showed up again, with three more kittens.
Naoki could hardly turn them away, so he took them all in. He said, “It was a financially difficult time for us, but we decided to help the cat family. Yes, we thought we were helping them, but they were the ones who helped us.”
When he let them roam, they explored Naoki’s miniature world of trains and depots and people. It was amusing to see – giant cats lounging on miniature tracks and looming over tiny trains. He, of course, took pictures and shared them on social media.
Those pictures went viral and, suddenly, The Diorama Restaurant was extremely popular. People came from far and wide to get a glimpse of the kitties frolicking in the train sets and to interact with them as they eat. Naoki even has started selling his own line of merchandise.
Out of gratitude for the cats saving his business, he made the second floor of his building into a cat sanctuary and cat hotel. Guests can hang out for a couple hours upstairs and, if they hit it off with a particular cat, they can adopt it. So far, more than 60 cats have been adopted and Naoki travels across the region to rescue cats in particular danger of being killed. He’s rescued more than 100 cats.
He and his family feel they are just paying forward the help Simba and his family have given to them.
Saving a family of down-on-their-luck cats is a good thing. And being saved by them is a good thing too!
Now it’s your turn… tell me something good!
