Since everybody likes some fun, especially when dealing with the various stresses caused by deciding what to do with your life, every Friday we will be posting something neat related to Japan, just for the heck of it. Fun things online, information about (non-internet) Japanese games, wacky news- whatever we stumble across looking for the serious stuff.

This week? Sushi Cat! Do you like sushi? Cats? FAT cats? (Who doesn’t like fat cats?)

Check out this online flash game created by Armor Games in which you play as Sushi Cat, a fat cat looking for love who, for various silly reasons, needs to eat as much sushi as possible to win the girl.

http://armorgames.com/play/5379/sushi-cat

With each piece of sushi eaten Sushi Cat gets fatter, and there are bonus sushi that do special things. Fill up his belly to win! If there’s a good strategy to each level, I haven’t found it, ‘cause I’m just too busy wondering what direction he’ll bounce in next and if he’s too fat to get through obstacles

The game is simple but highly addictive! Luckily it’s also short.

Also lucky: there’s a sequel! Take Sushi Cat for more fat cat adventures on his island getaway honey moon.

http://armorgames.com/play/6301/sushi-cat-the-honeymoon

On a related note, Japan happens to LOVE fat cats. In fact, we’ve seen television specials just on “デブ猫” (debu neko, or tubby cats). If you cruise around the net a little, you can find people’s photo blogs of their fat cats (them rolling, being put in funny costumes…). In fact, you can even find something similar to old fashioned webrings (yeah, remember those?) dedicated to ranking the most popular デブ猫sites, like this one, “デブ猫ブログ村” (Fat Cat Blog Village).

And now you know, so you can more fully enjoy the hilarity of Sushi Cat’s デブ猫 status!

– Paula