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<\/a><\/p>\nA beloved cat reincarnated!?<\/h2>\n– How did you first meet Teto?<\/h3>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a diving shop in Tateyama, Chiba that I\u2019ve visited many times over the years with my mother. I found Teto abandoned in front of the shop inside of a cardboard box. She jumped up on my shoulder as soon as I opened it. She was just like character Teto from the manga \u2018Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.\u2019 She was just about three weeks old at the time. On the box, somebody had scrawled, \u20184649\u2019 (homophone for Japanese word \u2018yoroshiku\u2019 \u2013 or \u2018It\u2019s up to you\u2019). Whoever did that was irresponsible beyond belief. The shop kept her for a while and looked for a foster family. Coincidentally, the day we found Teto was the anniversary of our former cat\u2019s passing. So my mom was like, \u2018It must be the reincarnation of our last cat, you have to take her!\u2019 Since my parents had another cat at their house already, I decided to take her home with me. My mother reassured me that she would look after Teto whenever I became busy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt my parents\u2019 house growing up, we had as many as three cats at once. So living with cats is a very natural state for me. The cat that had recently passed away was named Daikichi. He was such a funny character – we all loved him so much. So when we lost him, we were all very sad. It was exactly a year after his passing when we encountered Teto. The funny thing is, they even physically resemble each other. And now that I think of it, their characters are also quite similar. So maybe Teto really is the reincarnation of Daikichi.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s naughty and gluttonous. She\u2019s also quite boyish. But she also has a delicate side. For example, if she finds cookie crumbs, she does the sand-kicking thing with her hind leg. She doesn\u2019t even try to eat it. And if she discovers something unusual, she just kicks sand. Maybe she just likes being tidy, or even fastidious. If I forget to clean her litter box, she\u2019ll stay in front of it and just keep kicking at the sand. It\u2019s like she\u2019s complaining to me, \u2018It\u2019s not clean!\u2019 She won\u2019t stop until I clean it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe loves to play, and she will keep playing on and on. Typically, cats get bored or tired after a while, don\u2019t they? But Teto will go on forever. People will get tired before she does. I had a chance to talk with Mr. Saito, who is studying cat behavior at Tokyo University, and he suggested that Teto\u2019s behavior is a little bit similar to that of a Bengal, which is known for being a very active species. Perhaps she\u2019s got a little bit of Bengal in her blood. She\u2019s never had any serious illnesses, but I did find a bald spot on her belly just the other day. I immediately took her to a vet, only to find out that it was her belly button. I never knew a cat\u2019s belly button could be so visible, so I was kind of shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. She is very smart. When I feed her, she gives me her hand. She learned how to open doors by putting her weight on the door handle while she was staying at my parents\u2019 place, and now she does that at home as well. She also stayed at Donko\u2019s house once. Because she was so young, she liked other cats and chased after them wanting to play. Donko was okay with it because he is a gentle cat, but it seemed that another cat there, Uzura, didn\u2019t like it much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s kind of like a daughter, I suppose. It\u2019s completely different from the relationship my parents have with their cats. Nonetheless, Teto is a cat. She\u2019s not a human being. I hear some people say things like \u2018Oh this cat thinks it\u2019s a person.\u2019 But I\u2019ve never felt that way about her. Teto does come up onto my bed when we go to sleep. So I bought her a tent to sleep in and told her to sleep in there. However, she never listens to me regarding things like that. She just loves people, and is naturally friendly and charming.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was just starting up cineca when I was given the opportunity to sell cat-themed sweets at the ilove.cat festival. I love watching movies when I\u2019m home, so I always have some DVD playing. I watch over 500 movies a year, which I think may be a bit too much. I especially like the movie called \u2018Le Placard,\u2019 which was directed by Francis Paul Veber. In the film, the main character picks up a kitten, which starts a sequence of fateful events that completely changes his life. And there\u2019s a scene where the kitten drinks some milk. As I watched the scene, I realized that the cat must have grown up because she\u2019s now eating \u2018kalikali\u2019 (dried cat food). That\u2019s when I started to think that \u2018kalikali\u2019 could be an interesting motif. To me, the fact that there\u2019s a nationally common term for cat food – and cat food only, is quite interesting. If you think about it, we don\u2019t call dog food \u2018kalikali.\u2019 The concept behind the cineca brand is \u2018cinematic confectionaries,\u2019 so it happened to be this movie that inspired me to make \u2018kalikali.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cActually, baking small cookies is very difficult. Each piece is cut out and shaped individually, and you have to be very carful to cut them out at a consistent size. The smaller they are, the more difficult it is to bake them just right. And I do like to bake them a little crisper than ordinary cookies in order to get that crunchy sound that cats make when they eat their dried cat food.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like things that are merely cute. I want to give them a special twist. As an example of a nice expression, I do think \u2018kalikali\u2019 was a success. However, when you make something good, it becomes a big challenge to follow it up with something even better. The more you work at it, the harder the next challenge becomes. So after releasing \u2018kalikali,\u2019 it took me quite a while to come up with an idea for my next product.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThough \u2018kalikali\u2019 was a good idea, I couldn\u2019t help but think that it was lacking in a certain splendor that is necessary for festive events. I was thinking about making a confectionary that had a catchy look \u2013 a look that connects directly to the intention of purchase. Back when I was working for a design office, my boss told me about this brain exercise, in which you try to come up with something associated with whatever you see. So every time I see something, I try and go \u2018oh, that looks like\u2026 whatever.\u2019 That person looks like a mackerel, this person is like a chair, or whatever, it\u2019s an exercise to keep my brain flexible. I actually enjoy doing it. So when I make sweets, I\u2019ll be thinking, \u2018oh this almond looks like a cat\u2019s eyes, this could be like a cat\u2019s nose when cut in half, pumpkin seeds look like the inside of cat\u2019s ear,\u2019 or whatever. These kinds of ideas are what generated \u2018Yuruneko\u2019 cookies. Using icing is just like drawing or painting, which I guess is an effective means of self-expression. However, I wanted to do something more unique with my sweets. I wanted to bake cookies while really utilizing the ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think I can express myself better through sweets than through drawings. When I was at art school, I was majoring in spacial installations and landscaping. But then I thought I might be better at graphic design, so I took a job at a design office after graduating. I baked on the side. And since I was always good at making sweets, I began to wonder if sweets might be the ideal way for me to render the images in my head and best express my creativity. So I attended a confectionary school for a while and then started cineca. Maybe that\u2019s what people feel the difference is between cineca and other sweets makers. Recently, I was hired to cater events like the \u2018PARTY SALE\u2019 at PARCO, and it really makes me happy to know that people want to choose cineca out of all the sweets available in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThings that are just cute are pretty easy to make. So to me, they\u2019re kind of cheap. The same goes for cat goods. I think they need to have a special twist, or possess some quality that makes the customers think. Just showing the silhouette of a cat or their paws doesn\u2019t cut it. Taking \u2018kalikali\u2019 as an example, I like things that make people conscious of the existence of cats. Those are the kinds of things I\u2019d like to continue making.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– Had you always had cats at home?<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– What kind of personality does Teto have?<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– Even though she\u2019s being photographed, she just keeps on playing\u2026<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– Is it true that Teto can \u2018shake hands\u2019?<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– How would you describe your relationship with Teto?<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nCreating Cat-themed Confections<\/h2>\n
– How did you come up with the \u2018kalikali\u2019 cookies? \u2013 They were a big hit at the ilove.cat festival.<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– All cat owners have likely fantasized about trying a piece of \u2018kalikali\u2019 dried cat food while watching their cats enjoy a meal. \u2018Kalikali\u2019 cookies provoke that mentality quite well.<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– In addition to your \u2018kalikali,\u2019 it seems like all of your cineca sweets have well thought-out stories that give joy to the people who eat them.<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– At the ilove.cat festival last year, your new cat-themed \u2018Yuruneko Cookie\u2019 once again became quite the hit. They sold out pretty quickly. <\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– And your sweets go far beyond the theme of cats. Your entire lineup of cineca confections is visually unique. For example, there\u2019s your stone-like fizzing tablets, the glasswork-like flower candies, and your painter\u2019s palette cookies.<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n– Outside of sweets, do you also have your own standards for what makes a good cat-related product?<\/h3>\n