Cat Day] Angry, surprised, and sleeping… The “frantic” daily lives of the cats in the “Cats Too Frantic” series of photo books.

February 22 is “Cat Day,” which means “2 (nyan), 2 (nyan), 2 (nyan).

The day was established in 1987 by the “Cat’s Day Executive Committee” through public solicitation, with the aim of “marking the day to appreciate the happiness of being able to live with cats and to appreciate the joy of living with cats. For those who say, “I’m not interested in cats,” let us introduce a photo collection that will captivate even those who do not love cats.

The “Desperate Cats” series (Tatsumi Shuppan) is a collection of photographs taken by cat photographer Masayuki Oki. The first book, “Desperate Cats,” was published in September 2005 and became a bestseller. The series has sold more than 80,000 copies in total, and has been covered by many media outlets. The series is so popular that capsule toys, calendars, and other goods have also been sold.

The cats featured in the photo collection are dramatic at every moment, jumping up and down, looking serious as they aim for something, or showing expressions of surprise at unexpected accidents. Each moment is dramatic, soothing to the viewer’s heart, and at times, even funny. This time, 19 carefully selected images from this series will be specially exhibited.

Catching the cats in their all-out daily lives

Mr. Oki was originally an office worker in the apparel industry. The cat photos he was taking on his way home from work became the talk of the town on social networking sites, and he decided to take a leap of faith and become a full-fledged cat photographer. His cat photos are not just a record of “cute cats,” but also capture up-close the full power of cats and their sometimes comical and humane behavior.

For example, one shot of a cat seemingly standing still in mid-air after jumping up in surprise at an insect, or hanging from a fence as if wondering how it happened…he captures the cats’ all-out, all-hands-on-deck way of life.

It should be noted that all of the cats in the photographs are “outside cats” that are not domesticated. These photographs could only have been taken by Oki, who photographs his cats while carefully maintaining a sense of distance from them. Oki says that he spends a great deal of time with the cats to observe their natural expressions and gestures without stressing them out. It is precisely because he stays so close to the cats that his photographs seem to capture a slice of their lives. In an interview with “FRaU” (Kodansha) in July 2010, Mr. Oki said the following.

Since they are cats, they are usually sleeping, grooming their fur, or just sitting there thinking about something. They are not always doing mysterious things like in my photographs. So those one shots were taken by waiting and waiting and waiting. It is also a very inefficient shot.

I hope you will be soothed by the lively appearance of the cats and their expressions and gestures.