LOVE & Co. (hereinafter, "LOVE & Co.") has its office about a 10-minute walk from Oyamadai Station. Upon opening the door, the first thing that catches your eye are the walls covered with cat illustrations and photos, as well as cute goods featuring cats on their packaging. This is a shelter where homeless cats can find a safe haven and be connected with trustworthy foster families. While engaged in cat protection and adoption activities, LOVE & Co. also operates "LOVE ME SHOP," a coffee and goods brand that doubles as a foster parent recruitment initiative, and various workshops. In fact, Chocolat de Familia is a partner who supports LOVE & Co.'s activities and collaborates with them on product creation. We interviewed Ms. Imamura, the founder and representative director, and Ms. Yamashita, a director, about LOVE & Co.'s activities and their collaboration with Chocolat de Familia.

—Why did you decide to start cat protection activities?

Ms. Imamura (hereinafter, Imamura) It started in 2006 when I rescued one cat. Since that cat came to live with us, I became concerned about other stray cats and started rescuing them. I hoped that society would reach a point where adopting a rescue cat would be the first choice when someone decided to welcome a cat into their family. At that time, I worked as a salaryman on weekdays and engaged in rescue and adoption activities on weekends. This continued for about 10 years until LOVE & Co. was established in 2016. However, the number of cats gradually increased so much that I noticed they were stressed, and I myself struggled with prioritizing between my own cats and the rescue cats. Amidst this, I constantly thought about whether I could combine rescue activities with business. I wanted to create something ourselves, rather than just relying on donations, and use those earnings for cat protection activities.

—So, you established LOVE & Co. in 2016.

Imamura Yes. Learning from my experience as an individual, we decided not to house a large number of cats here, but to keep it around 10. Currently, we have 11 cats at the office, and including cats with temporary foster volunteers, about 20 cats are looking for foster families.

Ms. Yamashita (hereinafter, Yamashita) I just joined in September of last year. Before that, I had fostered rescue cats and also worked as part of another rescue organization. But shelters can be quite demanding. When there are many cats, the number of cats needing care due to injuries or illnesses increases, and the staff themselves get exhausted. I wanted to enjoy my activities for the sake of the precious cats, and when I was looking for such a place, I found LOVE & Co. The number of cats they take in is limited, and I could tell that the cats were relaxed.

—We heard that "LOVE ME SHOP," where cats looking for foster homes serve as models for packaging and designs, is central to maintaining your protection and adoption activities. It started with coffee, didn't it?

Imamura When I wanted to convey "please buy" instead of "please donate" for the cats, I thought about what kind of product would attract even people who weren't originally interested in cats. With coffee, people who liked it would come back, and I thought it would be an opportunity for them to learn about our activities and LOVE & Co. At first, I was particular about making it something that could be easily enjoyed with drip coffee, not just beans. There were quite a few twists and turns before we got there (laughs). When we started selling products incorporating designs of cats waiting for foster parents, we received a great response.

Yamashita From there, we started collaborating with artists and sought their product cooperation, and many people from all over the country offered to help. They registered as "LOVE & Co. Workers" and gave us ideas like, "I can make this" or "I want to create works with cats looking for foster parents as motifs." Now, we have over 70 different products. We also brainstorm ideas for products related to the cats' names.

—That's right, the product created with "Chocolat de Familia" is called "LOVE ME CHIYOKOLATE" (laughs).

Imamura Chiyoko came to us around the same time we met Chocolat de Familia. Coffee and chocolate are a perfect match, and I had always wanted to make chocolate a product someday. That's when we had the opportunity to develop a product with Chocolat de Familia. We decided to name the next cat that came in "Chiyoko" (laughs).

—This chocolate packaging is a wonderful idea! The chocolate is visible through the mouth part, isn't it? It's incredibly cute...

Yamashita Our representative, Imamura, designs everything. The colorful chocolate wrappers serve as a nice accent, making it even cuter. We always pack the standard milk chocolate with one other type. The chocolate is very popular! Some people even come to buy it as a gift for friends. The packaging changes for Valentine's Day, White Day, and Christmas. By the way, the season labels for last year's Valentine's Day, etc., are also cut out by our LOVE & Co. Workers.

—So, people can get involved in various ways.

Yamashita Yes. There are actually many detailed tasks besides protection and adoption activities, and everyone gets to utilize their strengths here. Playing with the cats, cleaning, cutting out product packaging. Especially the morning cleaning is a great help. Thanks to those who clean the cat cages, the office, and change the litter, we can maintain cleanliness every day!

—By the way, how do you decide the names of the other cats? Some of them have rather amusing names (laughs).

Imamura It's based on inspiration at the time. I'm usually the one who brings them in, but if it's a family or when we've rescued many at once, we'll create a series (laughs). The parents of the cats we rescued as a family were named "Enka" and "Melody," and their children all have song-related names: "Blues," "Yodel" because of a high voice, "Chanson," "Jazz"… Enka and Melody worked hard raising nine children. Enka and Melody, who had been here for two and a half years, also found foster parents recently.

Yamashita Also, you can search for them on Instagram using their names as hashtags. Of course, we use them when we post, but foster parents also use those hashtags to report on their current situation, which is something we look forward to. It's also wonderful when foster parents who have adopted multiple siblings cooperate with each other if something happens, or when they all come together for events. Some people even consider fostering after following their favorite cat's information through hashtags.

—Finally, could you secretly tell us about any products you'd like to work on in the future?

Imamura The T-shirt series is the newest thing we have, but I'd really like to create something else with Chocolat de Familia. How about a cat-shaped chocolate bar? It would definitely be cute with cat packaging on it! Hearing Chocolat de Familia's concept of aiming for chocolate that is always part of the family, not just a fleeting trend, I felt a connection with LOVE & Co. After all, cats are also welcomed as family members. Why don't we make that plan a reality soon?

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General Incorporated Association LOVE & Co. (LOVE & Co.). Based in Todoroki, Setagaya Ward, they engage in protection activities for homeless cats, while also operating "LOVE ME SHOP," a coffee and goods brand that doubles as a foster parent recruitment initiative, and various workshops. They aim for long-term sustainable protection activities without solely relying on donations, allocating business profits to protection activity expenses. Their motto is "Fun, bright, and stylish!"

Website:General Incorporated Association LOVE & Co.

Instagram:＠loveandco_coffee