Why make a street view a la Google when you can make a cat view?

Well, that's what Hiroshima prefecture's tourism board decided to do when they wanted to promote its cities in a unique way.

The idea is that cats actually know how towns and cities 'breathe' a lot better than us humans do.

The first cat view map they've launched is the town of Onomichi. It was a place where the movie "Tenkōsei" (also known as "Exchange Students" and "I Are You, You Am Me") was set and shot.

Nobuhiko Obayashi, who directed the movie, called his home town a place where anyone can feel a sense of nostalgia the moment you set foot in it.

As seen by cats

As you access the cat view website, one will immediately feel somewhat disoriented as you see the streets from quite low near the ground.

If you find a cat, an orange cat icon appears - clicking on it will show you some information about the cat (only in Japanese though).

There's even a video icon - clicking it will trigger a short video clip:

Oh yeah - I forgot cats can climb up walls too:

While you might think it's an odd initiative, a lot of media have caught onto this - so I guess the promotion was, in a way, a success. Hiroshima prefecture is hoping to bring cat view into other cities too - so watch this space.