"I don't feel that I decide to carve the cats," Makoto Nishi says. "The cats call on me to carve them."

Over the past few years Nishi has carved out (so to speak) a rare niche in the art world with his quirky, humorous woodcarvings of cats. Sensitive, perhaps sometimes sentimental, they capture the ineffable catness of cats in a way that appeals instantly to any cat person.

Cat haters might as well stay away from the Ginza's Shibe Gallery for the rest of the month. Led by Nishi, five artists are presenting cat portraits in sculpture, woodcut, lithograph, watercolor, pen-and-ink and pastels.