One of the books I’ve read in March this year was If Cats Disappeared from the World, written by Genki Kawamura and published in 2012. It was either the translation from Japanese into English or that I just didn’t like the genre, I’m not entirely sure, but I didn’t fall in love with the story neither as a book or as a movie – and we’ll get to that shortly. 
I gave the book 3/5 stars on Goodreads which is not a bad rating. I didn’t love the story, but I didn’t hate it either. The concept and the idea of it all is quite emotional and it makes you think and ask yourself what trully matters in the modern world. The main character is hit with the unfortunate news that he only has a few months to live. The Devil meets him (literally) and tells him that he will grant him one more day of life for each thing that he will make disappear from the world. And so the journey begins.
I wonder why people always expect things from others that they themselves can’t or won’t do.
If Cats Disappeared from the World has also been produced for the big screen. The movie, a Japanese production, was directed by Akira Nagai in 2016 from an adapted screenplay by Yoshikazu Okada. Filmed in Tokyo and Buenos Aires, Sekai kara neko ga kietanara (original title), the movie runs a little over 140 minutes. In April 2020, Deadline announced that a Sony Pictures adaptation is in development from creator Kit Steinkellner – no further news since then.
The movie is not perfect, by all means, but neither is the book. Still, it follows the story of our beloved postman the same way that the book does. Trying to learn and understand what truly matters in life and showing the audience in a powerful way the proof that we don’t really need much, like mobile phones or the internet. That all of this non-sense, superficial junk, is just a distraction from the life’s true happiness. On the other hand, it shows the strong connection between a cat and its owner, the power of unconditional love. There is a quote that stayed with me from the movie and it went something like this: we are not here to take care of the cats; the cats are here to take care of us.
As a cat mama (I will never call myself an “owner”), it is obvious that I find all of that very emotional. Scofield and Sunny, our cats, have literally sat by me while I laughed and cried my eyes out, while I was the happiest and when I was so down that I didn’t recognize myself anymore. Their sole presence has carried me through life for the past 6 years and I can’t imagine my existance without them. I didn’t know love like this until they ‘meawed’ their way into our home. 🐾
If Cats Disappeared from the World has been translated in many languages and published in many countries. For my fellow Romanians, the book is available at Humanitas. I know you will find at least one thing that you will like in this story. Or at least one that will make you think and reflect over the simple things in life.
Trailer:
