Main artwork

Immersive theater "Nekomachi"

📍 Shimokitazawa Station East Exit (outside the ticket gates)

◎ Overview

This is a new immersive theater experience that pays homage to Sakutaro Hagiwara’s *Cat Town* (Nekomachi). Guided by a voice in their earphones, participants journey from the plaza in front of Shimokitazawa Station to Setagaya-Daita Station.

Triggered by a whisper from a "poet" amidst the bustle of the crowd, the audience is invited into a world of poetry and fantasy.

◎Synopsis

◎ Story

In Shimokitazawa, there lies a mysterious town inhabited by those possessed by cats.

On an autumn night, as "I" gaze up at the moon, a man speaks to me. Following his lead, I begin to walk—guided by the moonlight—along a straight path that was once a railway line. The poet begins to recount, in a measured, quiet voice, the legend of "Cat Town" passed down in this area.

It is said that somewhere in this town, there exists a disused railway track. Night after night, there are those who walk that line, patrolling for irregularities. In the darkness, their forms glow with a pale blue light, resembling "blue cats."

As I listen intently to the poet's voice and match my footsteps to his rhythm, my field of vision begins to merge with his gaze. Memories and illusions of unknown origin emerge, and amidst the crowds, I catch glimpses of the presence of those pale, glowing beings.

Is this something I am seeing of my own volition?

Or is it something being shown to me without my knowledge?

Beyond the anxiety of potentially getting lost, "we" arrive at a mysterious station. Descending the stairs, one finds figures glowing with a blue light walking silently around old tracks deep underground. They resemble a pack of cats lurking in the shadows of the city. As "I" gaze at them, a realization dawns.

"I," too, have been walking along the tracks just like them—moving at the same pace and heading in the same direction. Without even realizing it, "I" had stepped into the stream of beings that are not human.

An urban immersive theater experience where "the unseen becomes visible."