Books | Japanese Cat Fiction

The ancient art of cat fiction is enjoying a resurgence in the UK. If you’ve missed it so far, here’s all you need to kniaow

Japanese cat fiction, also known as ‘healing fiction’ and ‘cosy fiction’ if you’re looking for it in book shops had a long history, dating back more than a thousand years. 

They’re whimsical, comforting stories that provide escapism and generally feature bookshops, libraries, coffee houses… and cats, obviously. They’re usually contemporary and set in Japanese cityscapes but often have a magic-realist or time-travel element to them.

The first piece of Japanese cat fiction is arguably The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, written in the early 11th century, and is quite likely the world’s first novel, too, so definitely set a trend. 

In modern terms, however, it was I Am A Cat by Soseki Natsume published in 1905 and in English in 1961 that really kick-started the healing/cosy/cat genre. I Am A Cat eventually spawned ten books in the series. 

In the last few years, you may have noticed Japanese cat fiction piling up on bookshops’ ‘recommended’ tables with titles such as We’ll Prescribe You A Cat and Days At The Morisaki Bookshop flying off shelves in the UK. And with our long, cold winters, frankly we don’t know how we’ve done without books about cats in bookshops and coffee shops for so long. 

5 Japanese Cat Books to get you started

1. I Am A Cat by Natsumi Soseki

2. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

3. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

4. The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai

5. If Cats Disappeared From The World by Genki Kawamura

If you’d like to read more about cats in culture, you might enjoy our February issue’s ‘Know A Thing or Two’ feature by Iona Bower, which is all about cats. The issue is in shops now and available from our online store. 

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Wellbeing | Friendly Habits

Friends can help lift your mood, boost your health and get you through the dog days of winter. Here are a few ways to nurture your friendships or make new ones

• Make plans and stick to them, no excuses or cancellations, unless it’s genuine.

• Answer the phone and speak to friends, even when you’re tired or don’t have time.

• Talk to people you don’t know very well, or at all, you may find there’s more common ground than you think.

• Take the more social option. Shop for your food in person, have your coffee inside the café, take off your headphones, smile at people, and share meals with your family.

• If you’re not feeling it, fake it. In one study when students were told to act extroverted for one week and introverted another week, they showed a big boost in mood while acting extrovert and a strong decline in mood while living as an introvert.

The friendly habits, above, are taken from our feature ‘Friends for Life’ by Rebecca Frank in our February issue.

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Recipe | Chocolate & Rose Mini Cakes

The way to our hearts is always with cake and these tiny treats are full of love (and chocolate).

Makes 20

100g butter, cubed

200g caster sugar

150g self-raising flour

50g cocoa powder

2 eggs

1 tbsp rose water

2 tbsp milk

Butter, for greasing

For the butter icing:

150g butter, softened

300g icing sugar

1 tsp rose water

Gold edible spray, optional

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6. Meanwhile, grease a mini cupcake baking tray with butter and set aside.

2 Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and cocoa powder. In another bowl beat together the eggs and rose water. Alternate adding a spoon of flour and egg mix to the butter and sugar, beat until incorporated each time before adding the next spoonful.

3 If the mix is too thick, add a little milk to loosen it. Spoon the mix into the prepared mini cupcake tray and bake for 15 mins. Test with a skewer – if it comes out clean they are done, if not, bake for another few mins before testing again.

4 Allow to cool for 5 mins in the tray before removing to a cooling rack.

5 Make the butter icing by beating together the butter and half the icing sugar, add the rest slowly keeping a smooth, silky consistency, towards the end, add the rose water.

6 When the cakes are completely cool, add the icing to a piping bag with a star nozzle, pipe each cake and spray with gold spray, if using.

This recipe is one of the ideas from our feature ‘Tea and Tarot’ in our February issue, a menu for an afternoon tea with a twist. It also includes recipes for Citrus Fizz, Chamomile Chai Tea, White Bean & Cauliflower Soup, Rosemary & Cheese Scones, Buttermilk Scones with Lemon Curd, a trio of sandwiches and Sausage Rolls with Nutmeg and Caramelised Onions, The photography and recipes are by Catherine Frawley.

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Magic | Love Potions

Who needs aphrodisiacs and foods of love when you can use a love potion?

Back in the mists of time, this was often the answer to a romantic conundrum. Through folklore, history and literature (think Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) weird and wonderful concoctions were used to encourage a heart pounding attachment. Legend has it that French beauty, Madame de Montespan seduced King Louis XIV by spiking his food with a tincture which included blood, intestines and bits of toad. She went on to have seven children by him, so maybe there was something in it. Should you wish to investigate without sorceress support, start with a liquid, like water, tea or wine, before adding herbs and mythical ingredients that you may be hard pressed to find in the supermarket. The rare and lethal mandrake, perhaps? Or sparrow’s liver, dove’s heart, swallow’s womb and hare’s kidney, ground into a powder. A small vial added to a drink and your beloved is sure to swoon. Possibly for the wrong reasons.

Thanks to Bring Me Love by Icy Sedgwick (Watkins)

If you’d like to woo a lover with something more tasty and less off-putting, you might like to read our feature ‘Foods of Love’ by Lucy Brazier in our February issue, which is on shelf now.

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Films | To See on the Big Screen

Visual films that are best watched from a flippy up seat with popcorn

Some films are best watched under a blanket on the sofa with a cup of tea and a box of chocolates. But other films are so visual they really should be seen in the cinema if at all possible. With the indie cinema scene exploding at the moment, lots of indies, drive-thrus, pop-ups and small chains are showing classic and older films so we can enjoy them again as they were intended to be seen. Here are a few that we think it’s definitely worth catching on the big screen if you ever get the opportunity.

The Wizard of Oz, 1939

Made when the idea of a screen in your own living room was merely a twinkle in Dorothy’s eye, The Wizard of Oz, named in 2018 as the most influential film of all time, was designed for the silver screen. Watching it as it was intended and as audiences would first have seen it is something almost as magical as Munchkin Land itself. Although it wasn’t the first film to use technicolour it’s arguably the most famous for doing so. Sit back and imagine how jaw-dropping the moment when Dorothy steps out of sepia and into technicolour would have seemed to pre-war audiences, sitting watching Oz in the cinemas.

2001, A Space Odyssey, 1968

Arguably, any of Kubrick’s films are better seen in the cinema than anywhere else, but 2001 is probably his most visual movie and the one that gains most from being watched on the big screen. More experience than narrative film, and accompanied by one of the most emotionally rousing scores in film history, 2001 is all about how tiny we really are in terms of the universe, and feeling dwarfed by the film itself is what it’s all about. 

Lawrence of Arabia, 1962

David Lean’s biopic of TE Lawrence starring Peter O’Toole offers cinema-goers a fabulous experience, with its sweeping shots of golden deserts and huge sand dunes. It’s a visual feast whichever medium you choose to watch it but the big screen really lets you feel the vastness of its landscapes. 

How To Marry A Millionaire, 1953

This classic comedy starring Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable was one of the first films to use CinemaScope, a widescreen lens that created a picture almost twice the width of other films. Viewed in other formats, you literally don’t see all of the film as the edges are usually cut off, so it’s one really worth enjoying at the cinema if possible. Take a bunch of girlfriends, immerse yourself in its optimism and fun and come out feeling like Monroe, Bacall and Grable as you head off for cocktails. 

Avatar, 2009

James Cameron’s story of a man in a wheelchair who protects a group of aliens is packed with special effects and was completely groundbreaking at the time with its use of 3D. Cameron had to delay filming for some years to allow technology to catch up with what he needed. While technology may have surpassed the film itself, it’s still a visual treat to watch on the big screen and a little piece of cinematic history that’s best enjoyed ‘properly’.

A few more films to ‘go big’ on (in no particular order)

The Great Escape, the Star Wars (original) trilogy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dune (2021), Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, 1917, Alien, The Searchers, Gandhi, The Greatest Showman, Finding Nemo, Howl’s Moving Castle, Akira, Ad Astra, Napoleon, Dunkirk, The Life of Pi, There Will Be Blood, A River Runs Through It, Gravity. 

Feeling inspired to take a cinema trip yourself this month? You might like to read our ‘outing’ feature, ‘Admit One’ from our February issue, which looks at some of the UK’s best historic, volunteer-run and quirky cinemas. The issue is on sale now. 

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Making | Find Your Next Craft Class

Many of us are looking for a new creative outlet but finding precisely the right thing can be tricky. Here are a few suggestions for ways to match your ‘creative itch’ to a new craft to try

I want to make new friends

Sitting alongside others all doing the same craft is a great way to open up conversations and meet like-minded people. If you’re looking for a craft class that’s as much about the socialising as the making, look out for dedicated classes where the clue is in the title - Sip & Paint, Knit & Natter… maybe even Stitch & Bitch if you’re feeling brave. Otherwise, crochet is a craft that encourages a nice chat as you stitch. Even if you’re a beginner it’s fairly easy to pick up and you’ll soon be able to absent-mindedly stitch granny squares while nattering to those around you. And if you get distracted and mess up, there’s probably someone round the table who can get you back on track again. 

I want to get outdoors more

Look for something nature-focussed, maybe at a rural crafts centre or forest location, for a craft course with a dose of fresh air. There are lots of one-off workshops for willow-weaving, trug-making and spoon-whittling that might give you a taste for a new outdoorsy craft as well as lots of sunlight and the chance to feel closer to nature. 

I want something hands on

There’s nothing like pottery throwing if you want to really get up to your elbows in craft. Obviously it keeps your hands very much busy but pottery also uses your whole body as you shape clay at the wheel. It’s a wonderful feeling going back to collect your pieces from the kiln and seeing your own thumbprints and the marks your hands left as you crafted your pieces. 

I want to get out of my own head

While repetitive crafts such as knitting and colouring can feel very soothing, sometimes you need something a bit ‘difficult’ to keep your brain busy and stop overthinking. Jewellery making can be as simple or as complicated as you like. You can buy a few tools, some wire and beads online and be crafting rings and earrings at home by yourself as soon as you like. But there are lots of courses in silversmithing around that will teach you the basics such as soldering, riveting and texturing and hammering to create patterns. There’s a lot to learn, and you need to concentrate on the job in hand - plus you’ll come away with something really beautiful every now and then. 

I want to use my creative muscle more

Painting is a wonderful way to harness your creativity. Watercolour classes are a great way to start. Even if you can’t draw a stick man right now, painting classes tend to be very welcoming and non-judgemental and watercolour painting is something you can practise at home alone, too, if you want to improve. For those making a first foray into painting, splatter painting is a really fun thing to do for a day with your family or a group of friends. You basically dress in a boiler suit, are given a canvas and then you splatter paint all over it until you have a colourful, messy piece of artwork you can take home and hang on the wall. If you’re lucky enough to have an art school or an adult education college near you, you could even try out a specialist art class in life-drawing, charcoals or inks, maybe? 

I want to try something quirky

The great thing about the crafting community is that it’s full of quirky people so if you want to try something a little bit different, you won’t be the only one… 

If you enjoy wielding large tools, tufting lets you make rugs with a tufting gun - very satisfying. Or how about learning the scientific and sensory art of perfume making so next time someone compliments you on your fragrance you can say smugly - oh this? It’s just one I made myself! If you’d like a new craft hobby that will be a real conversation starter, how about Fluid Art Bear Painting? Yes, that’s what we said! You’re given a 3D resin teddy bear, which is your canvas, then you mix liquid acrylics with water or silicone oil, layer them up and pour them onto your bear, tilting it from side to side to create fluid, marbled patterns. 

If you can’t find the craft you want to do locally to you, you could always set one up yourself! In our February issue, we met the founders of community arts and craft space, Aunty Social (auntysocial.co.uk) and found out how they got started and what they’re up to now.

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Tipple | Rosemary & Ginger Hinny

A no alcohol take on a classic mule cocktail, this version has the signature ginger tang, but swaps mint for rosemary

Serves 1-2

2 fresh rosemary sprigs (save 1 to garnish)
Ice cubes
240ml ginger ale tonic (see below)
240ml freshly squeezed lime juice
Simple syrup, to taste
Sparkling water, to taste

For the ginger ale tonic:

14g fresh ginger root, sliced thinly (no need to peel)
1 tbsp ashwagandha root powder
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise pod
Honey or preferred sweetener, to taste

1 Muddle a few rosemary leaves in the bottom of a glass, then fill the glass with ice.

2 Make the ginger ale tonic by combining 475ml of water and the spices in a pan. Covered, bring it to a slow simmer over a low heat for 20-30 mins (for a stronger ginger ale, simmer for up to 45 mins).

3 Add the honey or your preferred sweetener while still warm, and taste, adding more if necessary. Let the ale cool before straining through a fine-mesh sieve or a cheesecloth into a clean jar.

4 Add 240ml of the tonic, the lime juice and a splash of simple syrup to the glass with ice and rosemary.

5 Stir gently and top with sparkling water and a rosemary sprig. Bartender’s note: If the rosemary is flowering, add the purple flowers to ice cube moulds to create pretty ice cubes, which can then be added to the tipple.

Taken from The Herbalist’s Guide For The Sober Curious by Leah Jorgensen Jean (Chartwell Books)

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Playlist | Carnival!

Inspired by global celebrations of Carnival and Mardi Gras, our February playlist brings together music from Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti, Colombia, Cuba and New Orleans. Though countries celebrate on different days, these festivals are filled with parades and street parties; dancing and music – a final fling before Lent begins.

Have a listen here.
You’ll find this playlist in our February 26 HEAL issue, on sale from 30 January. Order a copy from Pics & Ink.

Competition | Win a year's supply of flowers from Scilly

Cheer your year with fresh scented flowers delivered direct to your front door, thanks to Scilly Flowers

Just imagine the smile on the face of someone who receives a gift box of scented flowers through the post on a dull mid-winter day. Enter our competition and you could win 12 boxes of scented narcissi – worth over £290 – to send to your friends… however, we won’t judge if you choose to enjoy a few yourself.

Grown in the traditional way in a patchwork of small, sheltered fields on the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast, the winter crop of scented narcissi flourishes outdoors without any additional heat or light from October to Easter.

As the flowers are delivered directly from where they’re grown, they have a far lower carbon footprint than those grown in heated glasshouses or flown in from further afield. This makes scented narcissi one of the most sustainable and thoughtful ways to give flowers and brighten a loved one’s day, whether it’s Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day or just to let a friend or family member know that you’re thinking about them.

Once the scented narcissi season comes to an end, owners of Scilly Flowers, Zoe and Ben Julian, and their team turn their attention to a mixture of spring flowers such as iris and gladioli. As summer starts, the pickers at Churchtown Farm on the island of St Martin’s, start harvesting the summer crop of scented pinks. Similar to carnations, pinks have a subtle hue and a delicate fragrance.

On an island, fresh water is a particularly precious resource, and the pinks are grown in coir-filled tubs that reduce the need for irrigation. Once on display, these blooms will brighten any room and are a reminder of the joy that is home-grown in Scilly.

For more info, visit scillyflowers.co.uk or follow on Instagram: @scillyflowers.

How to enter 

For your chance to win fresh scented flowers delivered to your door (12 boxes to share over the year), enter our competition by clicking the button below and answering the following question by the closing date of 13 March 2026.

Q: What is the name of the farm where the summer crop of pinks is picked?

Terms and conditions

The competition closes at 11.59pm on 13 March 2026. One winner will be selected at random from all correct entries received and notified soon after. Subject to availability. The winner cannot transfer the prize or swap it for cash. Details of our full terms and conditions are on p125 and online at: icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.