Cats with hooked and bent tails fill Nagasaki, Japan, where they are thought to bring good luck

NAGASAKI, Japan (AP) — In Japan, bobtail cats are considered good luck and Nagasaki is the place to find them.

They are known as “omagari neko (bent-tail cats)” or “kagi neko (hook cats)” and have their own society of admirers and even a dedicated Shinto shrine.

Their tails come in varieties including hook-shaped at the tip, curved or in a bun, explained Kazuya Hideshima, a worker at Omagari Neko Shrine and member of the Nagasaki Cat Society.

Past findings have indicated bobtails accounted for nearly 80% of the cats in Nagasaki, twice the occurrence of anywhere else in Japan.

Japanese cats are believed to have come from China in the 6th century with Buddhist monks, serving as rat hunters to protect religious scriptures on ships.

Nagasaki bobtails have their roots in the Dutch East Indies when the city was the only foreign port during Japan's closed era in the 17th to 19th centuries. They hunted rats to protect shipments on their way from Southeast Asia to Japan, according to Nagasaki cultural officials.

Soshin Yamamoto, a veterinarian and cat specialist, said the large population of bobtails in Nagasaki is likely the result of a genetic mutation that reproduced in a relatively isolated environment when the nation was shut up tight.

“Having bobtails is no problem for most cats living a normal life, as long as they live near humans and aren't jumping and running around like wild cats in a forest,” he said.

Nagasaki residents hope the cats bring in tourists and help business.

Natsuno Kani, a 50-year-old tourist from Tokyo who recently visited the bobtail shrine, said she knew Nagasaki was famous for bent-tail cats.

But Abigail Tarraso, an artist from Spain based in Takeo City in neighboring Saga prefecture, was unfamiliar with the species, which is not as popular in Spain.

“Today is the first time in Nagasaki that I have ever heard of this,” said Cindy Bi, an American who is also an artist. “I am excited to look around for them. Maybe we will see a few."

A stray bobtail cat rests at a park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A stray bobtail cat rests at a park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A stray bobtail cat rests at a park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Veterinary surgeon Soshin Yamamoto holds his bobtail cat, Katsuo, at his practice in Tokyo on May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Mayuko Ono)

A stray bobtail cat rests at a park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A stray bobtail cat rests at a park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)