(Yes, I’m using a Japanese word to refer to Korean cats.)
I’ve found that quite a number of people in Japan (that I know, anyways) refer to stray cats as “gomicats.” (Gomi means garbage.) I like the term better than ‘stray cat” or “alley cat” so I’ve taken to using it as well.
The area around my apartment building has quite a lot of these cats. They’re very skittish and won’t act friendly towards anybody. They must like the neighborhood though, since some of them have been here long enough that I’ve seen them grow up from gomikittens into full-fledged gomicats. And they’re either very good scavengers or somebody’s been feeding them. There’s not a skinny one in the bunch. They’re quite camera-shy too, but I did catch one of ’em the other day.
They really, really like the construction supplies company next door.
Too much in fact.
I think a fair number of them may be living in and among the stacks of stuff. The above gomicat likes to sun himself (I think it’s a “him”) on those piles of metal plates. Some of the others like to play/fight/yell under the big plastic drums. You wouldn’t believe the echo and reverb they can get from one of those.
It gets really bad whenever one of them goes into heat, or when there’s some kind of turf war going on. You see, their hangout is right outside my windows, and I’m only one floor up. That picture was take from my laundry room window, and I was about 8 feet from that cat.
A bit too close for comfort when the cat’s in heat and yowling instead of just sunning itself quietly.
But even so, I like having them around. I’m not going to take any of them in and adopt them. It wouldn’t be fair since I’m not staying here forever and don’t want to deal with international pet issues when it’s time to leave. I do wish they were a bit more friendly. I’m sure they’d enjoy a scritch behind the ears, if only they’d try it. Anybody know how to befriend a cat without making it a live-in pet?