Cat from Chiba {Japan}

Enjoying life one day at a time: a grandma and her cat

Miyoko Ihara graduated from the Nippon Photography Institute in 2002. Around that time, she began photographing her grandmother, Misao, in order to document her life. One day, Misao found an odd-eyed kitten in the shed. She named the cat Fukumaru. Since then the two have been inseparable. "Partly because they are both hard of hearing, my grandmother and Fukumaru are always looking into each other's eyes. They're really close," Ihara says.

The photographs documenting their close bond were compiled into a book, Misao The Big Mama And Fukumaru The Cat. This touching and beautiful photo book captures them as they work in the fields, admire spring blossoms, or nap in the sun.

“When I see the way my grandmother is living her life, I really feel that she has a kind of strength that my generation simply can't match. She gets up with the sun and goes to bed when it sets. She loves her cat and the vegetables in her field like her own children," Ihara says. "If her vegetables come out well, she's happy. She doesn't have to worry about questions like 'What's the point of my work?' Her way of life fills me with admiration and a sort of envy.”

Misao The Big Mama And Fukumaru The Cat is a bestselling book in Japan and a viral sensation in the united states.