Naomi the cat is named after tennis champion Naomi Osaka, and she was first featured in this column in September 2019.
Though she was already 8 years old at the time, her winning ways allowed her to zero in on the competition (in this case, the people she wanted to charm) and she succeeded in landing a top prize — a home with the Iwamoto family of Yokohama.
Itsuki Iwamoto and his son, Tatsuya, marvel at the way she can sling down the chow. Mother Kaori says they had already seen a couple of cats before they met Naomi on their second visit to ARK.