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bottle befuddlement




It's a common sight in Japan - water-filled plastic bottles in gardens, placed around plants. Apparently they deter cats from sitting on plants. Yes, sitting. And shitting on them, too.

Truth be told, I've never seen a cat hassling a plant - bottles or no bottles. But then maybe that's because I can't see any plants - because they're obscured by the bottles.


There could be a cat hiding behind these bottles.


Actually, take a walk in the 'hood and you'll likely see plenty of healthy-looking blooming flowers without bottles....


Flourishing flowers and not a bottle in sight.


However, sometimes it's not clear what the bottles are actually trying to protect....or just why they're there at all.....


An arrangement of bottles - but why?


Less of an arrangement, more of a scattering....


Whoever lives here must really despise cats.



Bottles of water protecting mud and weeds from cats. Maybe.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 7:43 pm. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

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On Monday, 01 June, 2009, Blogger Ojisanjake said:

The prettiest ones I ever saw were here...
http://ojisanjake.blogspot.com/2009/02/omoto-shrine-hamada.htmlberst  



On Monday, 01 June, 2009, Anonymous john turningpin said:

I only learned about the cat-to-water-filled bottle connection a couple weeks ago when I asked someone, "Just what is it with these water-filled bottles everywhere?"

The whole thing sounds dodgy to me, but given that I have yet to see a cat around a water-filled bottle, there might be something to it...  



On Tuesday, 02 June, 2009, Anonymous Scotty.VOR said:

I was once told by a senior Japanese water management official that if, hypothetically, all the oceans of the world boiled off, Japan could fill them again from these bottles. Of course the silly part is that the Japanese would never do that, 'cause then the cats would win. True story.  



On Tuesday, 02 June, 2009, Blogger Baron's Life said:

Very informative, I'm going to try it around my plants and Garden in Vancouver BC. It's amazing how the Japanese become obsessed with things and then turn them into a National Hobby  



On Wednesday, 03 June, 2009, Blogger Munin said:

I have to disagree with the “Less of an arrangement, more of a scattering...” header for the 5th picture down. To me, the juxtaposition of white caps and blue caps is really quite remarkable. Fuck zen gardens... that's some real 21st century style spiritual calm right there! :-D

I wonder what goes through the average cats mind when he/she comes across this shit. I'm thinking the aversion is more to do with the cat concluding that, whoever lives there, must be an absolute nutter, and wandering anywhere near said property would be foolhardy at best; rather than any general aversion to bottled water. :-)  



On Thursday, 04 June, 2009, Anonymous Eric said:

I couldn't figure out why people had stacks of bottles outside their houses. To me it seemed like one of those weird obsessions that the locals have :) Thanks!  



On Thursday, 04 June, 2009, Anonymous reisender said:

It's supposed to dissuade cats and dogs (I've heard) because they don't like the shininess. So I always praise my dog when he pees on them - the bottles, not the plants. I love to destroy myths.  



On Thursday, 04 June, 2009, Blogger meemalee said:

Just stumbled upon your blog - hopefully it will give me more insight that my friend who has been living in Osaka for almost 2 years now but still seems a bit oblivious!

Hubby and I are flying to Osaka next month to stay with said friend - from his balcony you can see a stadium that looks like a mushroom :)  



On Thursday, 04 June, 2009, Blogger meemalee said:

I mean "than" my friend - my typing sucks - gomen nasai!  



On Saturday, 06 June, 2009, Blogger Tonykaku said:

nice post and very interesting blog. i have stayed in Minoo about 20 times in the last 5 years so your blog
is a wonderful place to visit without flying 12 hours.
i have some similar photos of "anti-cat" bottles.
for me, it is amusing so why bother trying to understand it. not quite sure if that made sense but
i will be looking forward to your next posting. oh, i am flying to London next week, any such "anti-cat" bottles i should be on the lookout for to photograph?  



On Tuesday, 28 July, 2009, Blogger Rich Chestmat said:

I've seen people put them under their parked cars to block the cat from sleeping underneath and risk getting squished. That sort of makes sense maybe. Although I can't explain the absence of a cat shortage in any other countries with both cats and cars.  



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