Cats Level 3 (am) by Chisako A. Cole

Level 3 Ideas in Hello, Kitties

chisakoasakawa — 2024-09-14 21:31:54 UTC

Hello, Kitties by Hanya Yanagihara

chisakoasakawa — 2024-09-15 14:52:36 UTC

L3 Strategy:

chisakoasakawa — 2024-09-15 20:10:20 UTC

p.113 paragraphs 1~6 ("Cats weren't the only culture..." --> "It's our job to accommodate them.")

Summary:

Shintoism has the opposite effect of Buddhism because it says anything (people, trees, or animals) can be divine.
Shintoism and Buddhism never replaced one another but rather worked together to create a 'syncretic culture' until 1868.
Shintoism is one of the reasons why Japan has places like Aoshima island.
Author describes the tone towards humans in Japan as 'ambivalence'.
Texts and media in Japan, such as the film "Princess Mononoke" (1997), describe the dynamic and 'hierarchy' between humans and animals.

L3 Strategy: Different perspectives and lenes

chisakoasakawa — 2024-09-15 20:10:32 UTC

p.113 last paragraph --> top of p.114 ("I have always sensed in Japan an odd sort of ambivalence..." --> "to animals, we would be returned.")

mentions Japanese films to build on the relationship between humans and animals
A few people keep taking care of the cats
People come to take care of the cats
The cats lure people
Relation ship between human and cats

This reflects a level 3 question because it stretches farther from what other culutres decribe cats as compared to what is seen in Japanese culture. It steps to a broader cultural condition that includes ambivalence and ideas like death.

L3 Strategy: Zooming out and looking into cats as symbolism

chisakoasakawa — 2024-09-15 20:10:39 UTC

p.114 ("After Gotokuji..." --> end of page).

-There were no longer cats found in the small town of Yanaka

-Large number of stores selling cat memorabilia

-Fake cats capture the essential characteristics of the real cats

This is Level 3 because she is no longer just describing cats or even just describing Japan’s culture. She zooms out and turns it into a bigger philosophical idea.

L3 Strategy: Looking at the bigger picture: Human mortality and cultural decline

chisakoasakawa — 2024-09-15 20:11:10 UTC

p.115, last section from "The next week" --> to end.

-Cats do not need to rely on humans to survive, humans choose them to be a part of their culture

-Cats can leave Japan at any time

-This is a level 3 question because it doesn’t only focus on cats anymore, it talks about declining cultural rates, possible extinction of the Japanese population and villages emptying out.

-Spirituality, she talks about how if there are more cats then people, there will be more spirits and folklore.

-The Japanese are almost scared of the fact that there are more cats because of these folklore

L3 Strategy: Looking to the future --> bigger implication (hypothetical scenario)

chisakoasakawa — 2024-09-15 21:18:49 UTC

p.115: "Now the sun was fading, and Mihoko and I went to a coffeehouse" --> "Now, the natives had been replaced"

-young people are leaving small towns

-In Nagoro --> life-size dolls in gardens, houses, schools!

-Japan's aged society --> 29.1% over 65 and in 2040, 35% --> Japan's declining population

-what will happen to the cats if one day there are no humans? Cats make their own decisions and choices.

Aoshima Island Cats

mlynch209 — 2026-02-24 18:45:50 UTC

Level 3

willow_cyr — 2026-02-24 18:47:47 UTC

This is a level three because the author takes a wider lens and looks into the significant of Shintoism and Buddhism for the Japanese culture. While the focus of the paper is on cats, this section relates cats to how these different religions view animals and non human spirits in general. This section also takes a different perspective on Shintoism mentioning Marie Kondo and her organization techniques for getting rid of extra belongings.