For those that don't know, Nekokoshan was Yoshiki Fukuyama's cat. He entered into Fukuyama-san's life as a kitten, way back in the very early 90s. He and a fellow member of Humming Bird wrote a song about the kitten called, of course, "Nekokoshan". The song was included on their first album and Fukuyama-san has been singing about Nekokosan ("Mr. Kitten" in little-kid speak)ever since.
We have a "nekokoshan" of our own: her name is Kitty. She originally belonged to a friend's daughter who had to move and couldn't keep the cat. Six years ago, when we took her in, I asked if she had a name. My friend didn't know. She said that they all just called her "kitty", and we were too lazy to think of another, so that's what we call her to this day...
On his concert DVD, Fukuyama-san told of how they named the cat nekokoshan because they were too lazy to come up with another name. 16 years later, the old grandfather of a cat was still called by his kitten name, Nekokoshan.
Interesting enough, Fukuyama-san's cat and our cat have more than just name origins in common. They both look alike too.
It's amazing how cats work their way into our hearts. They literally become part of our families... and we grieve for a while when they are gone.
We all learned of Nekokoshan through a song. The tale of his antics brought him into our homes... and, in a way, he became part of all of our families. We will all miss him.
Goodbye, Nekokoshan. Rest in peace. We'll never forget you.