Maneki-neko Museum

**Eight hundred cats in a farmhouse.** The building is a century-old house rather than a gallery, and the density in a low-ceilinged tatami room is the experience. **The raised paw means different things.** Right paw for money, left for customers, both for greed depending on who you ask. The regional variations in colour and posture are explained in the displays and are the actual content. **Painting a cat takes about an hour.** Blank plaster figure, paints, and you take it home. Booking is sensible at weekends. **There are real cats.** They live on site and go where they like. **It is 30 minutes out of town with poor bus service.** Effectively a car trip. The Kanayamaji temple on the same hillside is worth combining if you have driven out.