"Wow, what's that?" I asked Mrs. Amano. In her arms she was holding a furry thing with whiskers. I couldn't quite recognize the animal as it had tufts of hair sticking out all over it — like a hexagram with a cat face in the middle.

"It's so far to take her to a cat groomer, so I just cut her hair myself," said Amano-san.

"What did you use, hedge trimmers?" I asked. "Just regular scissors from the ¥100 store," she said.