A lovely collection of short stories involving a clinic for the soul in Kyoto. Each story has someone stressed out/not happy with life who is given some vague directions to a clinic where they are prescribed a cat.

Of course, the cat then manages to sort their problems, often by random chance.

A lovely, feel good story, especially for cat lovers like myself

Tucked away on the fifth floor of an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic for the Soul can be found only by people who are struggling in their lives and who genuinely need help. The mysterious clinic offers a unique treatment to those who find their way there: it prescribes cats as medication. Patients are often puzzled by this unconventional prescription, but when they “take” their cat for the recommended duration, they witness profound transformations in their lives, guided by the playful, empathetic, and occasionally challenging yet endearing cats.

As a lover of cats, Japanese fiction and this book being described as being for fans of 'The Cat who Saved Books', I had to check this book out as I was so interested by the title and blurb.

I feel like even now writing this review, I'm still confused about what I've read because the magical realism aspect really would have benefitted from further development. I enjoyed the stories but I think it would have been better if each one was longer as they felt unfinished and I was still left with a lot of questions, especially with the last story. However, I do think that the plot was unique and I loved the concept of cats being used as a treatment option cause who doesn't love cats?!

I didn't like nor dislike the characters but I feel like they didn't get enough development in the time that we got with them, which made it hard for me to grow attached or care about them, which is a shame because the potential was definitely there. For the most part, I did like the writing style but I feel like it got repetitive quickly because of the directions to the clinic and each patient not being able to find the clinic, which got old quickly. I do love how the cats were described because paired with the illustrations, it made it easy to picture each cat and how each of their personalities were different, and suited to the patient they had been prescribed to.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early, in exchange for an honest review.

⚠️ CWs: cursing, mental health illness (depression), alcohol use, vomiting, grief; mention animal death, death ⚠️

an amazing book with cute but quite deep shortstorys about this facility that prescribes cats as medicine! it´s the perfect book for every cat lover and every person who likes a little magical realism story that moves you!

A book consisting of short stories about humans and cats. However, upon closer investigation you can see how each of these stories intertwine. A great book to pick up if you like to read short stories, read longer stories or are more of a pick up on the go reader. You might find yourself pondering on your own life and reflect on how animals or little things have altered your life in subtle hidden ways. 5/5 and the cats will steal your heart!

If you've loved or lost a cat, this book will steal your heart. Short stories can be read a little at a time, but I gulped this down in one small sip and then a deep dive. Love the cat perspective. The twists were fabulous.

I loved this book. Uplifting and beautifully written I wanted all the cats from the stories. A charming read it was for me just like having a big cuddle with my cat. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5 stars
I love this kind of stories because they are about people with everyday problems who come to solve their existential crisis in a magical place, which depending on the type of book can be a café, a bookshop or a place with cats that help them to get better.
This book seemed to be something like that, but I found it lacking in depth and problems, even if they are everyday problems they usually have a twist that makes you think and reflect on life. I think the closest thing to that was the first story, the rest seemed rather superficial and the only thing that interested me was the plot of the strange clinic and the tragedy of the cats.
The rest of the stories lacked something to touch me and make me reflect, leaving the characters a bit flat and the book rather mild.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review!

I absolutely adored this book. The premise is similar to that of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, where all the stories surround a special place but tell a different tale specific to each main character.

The amount of love for cats and their little quirks and habits here is so lovely. As a major cat lover, I can tell that Ishida also adore cats and everything about them. This book yanks at your heartstrings and plays with them like a cat with yarn and it is a delightfully warm ride. I love the funny unique characters (Jinnai please be my best friend, I love you). Shuta's story was particularly beautiful to me, but every one of these tales is heart-warming, unique, and full of cats.

The reveal about the identity of the doctors literally made me sob hysterically and hug my cats. It's such a beautiful idea. I would love another collection of these types of stories around the clinic.

If you love cats, animals, and hope, this is a must-read. If you don't love those things, gross, read it anyway and sort yourself out. Five stars full of cat love.

A good recommendation for all fans of cozy fantasy. A possibly new take on the cozy genre, with cats!
I am excited to recommend this book to others

This is an undemanding book about how Cats Are Good, with a rather charming premise: people who are struggling in their lives (in minor ways: irritating co-workers, uncongenial jobs, difficulties connecting with their children) somehow find their way to a psychiatric clinic in a building that isn't always there, where an odd doctor gives them a cat as a prescription. It's cute. It's pretty obvious. There's a little bit of a mystery about the nature of the clinic that is resolved in a sweet but not terribly surprising way. This would be a good book for someone who is grieving the loss of a beloved cat, perhaps; but there's not much else to it.

This was such a cute concept and made for some very touching stories. I loved the surrealism of the clinic and the characters of the doctor and nurse there. I loved the way that the cats helped the people they were prescribed to, and I loved the way it was all written in little short stories with lovely illustrations of cats at the start of each chapter.

For most of it, it was pretty light-hearted cosy reading, but be warned the last story will break your heart. It was so emotional. I love a book that really tugs on your heartstrings and this story full of abandoned cats and lost pets really did that very well, though it had a beautiful heart-warming end like all of the stories in this book.

A big thing I enjoy about these cosy Japanese books, is the humour of them. They play with absurdism and surreality and just create something completely unique.

I would love a sequel to this book with more cats. I could read a lot more of these stories.

Loved it! Such a wholesome read. Something about translated Japanese fiction that hits you straight to your heart.

I got a review copy from Netgalley.
My rating is 3.5, but I somehow, can't put that half star.
I picked up this book because of the name. It is Japanese fiction and features cats? Count me in.
The story opened nicely. The ending twist was unexpected even though I had a niggling feeling behind my ears.
Nice book for a one time read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for providing me with a free copy to do this review.

Cute story. There's a fantastic element that becomes more apparent later on. I felt it improved the book overall, but could've been introduced gradually and worked into the earlier parts. Several of the characters who've been prescribed "treatment" are a little too unsympathetic.

Early access courtesy of the publisher & NetGalley.

Attention all fans of Asia and cats—finally, a book tailored perfectly to your (our) tastes has arrived! Imagine a doctor who, based on your ailment or concern, prescribes you...a cat. Yes, a living, breathing furball that works like medicine. Is that even possible? Yes, it is! Grab the book and dive into the details! 😊

Picture this: you have a problem, a worry, whether it’s work-related, personal, or something else entirely. You need a solution. So, you head to the Kokoro Clinic for Souls, share your troubles with the doctor, fill a prescription, and then walk out, looking all serious and composed, with your new "medicine" in tow. Follow the prescription instructions, and your problem will be resolved in a week or two. If necessary, the treatment can be extended or shortened—the main goal is that it works. The best part? The medicine is an absolutely adorable kitty, carefully chosen specifically for you based on your concern and state of mind. It’s a cat lover’s dream come true!

As soon as I heard about this book, I had my sights set on it, eagerly waiting and circling around it like a cat around a hot dish. When is it coming? Where can I get it? Finally, the blissful moment arrived, and I got to immerse myself in this long-awaited book. The result? A happy heart, a content mind, and a new recommendation for many friends. Plus, the book arrived at just the right time, when I needed something calming, motivating, and heartwarming to read. This book wraps its reader in a cozy warm blanket and hugs you for as long as the pages last. Nothing shocking, sudden, wild, or mean—just pure comfort.

Each protagonist in the stories has a different problem—a work crisis, a lack of inspiration, complicated relationships, emotional imbalance, childhood trauma, and more. And just as each main character is unique, so are their "medicine cats," each chosen to suit their specific need. Every new chapter is named after the respective cat.

A cute, heartwarming read that treats the reader like a comforting cup of tea, coffee, or hot cocoa.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and Random House UK, for this wonderful reading experience and for the ARC copy!

Review in Estonian: https://brixieblog.wordpress.com/2024/09/16/well-prescribe-you-a-cat-syou-ishida/

I loved the book. It has no real beginning or end but is a gentle playful read for the cat lover.
I would recommend

📚 review 📚

we’ll prescribe you a cat - syou ishida

i wish i could be prescribed cats instead of anti depressants- i’m no doctor but i think it might be more effective. in lieu of not having an army of cats to take away my troubles i’ll settle for this book, which reinforces my belief that 1) japanese fiction is wonderfully wholesome and whimsical and 2) that cats really do solve everything.

if you’re looking for something cute and warming this autumn, this is a must. it is one of those books that gives off the same energy as reading in your pjs with a cat purring on your lap, which if you know, you know is one of the best feelings in the world.

if you’re a cat person this is def for you and if you’re not a cat person, that’s just because you haven’t met the right cat yet. maybe you will in these pages?

we’ll prescribe you a cat is out now. thank you @netgalley for the early copy.


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Like other Japanese novels, Syou Ishida's We'll Prescribe You a Cat is a book of short interconnected magical realist stories that have a heart-warming premise with the characters turning up at the Kokoro Clinic believing from word of month that it's a clinic that will solve their mental health issues and being surprised that the outcome of an appoint is a prescription of taking home a cat, which transforms their lives and connections with other people.

It's the kind of book which is ideal for reading on a commute or if you want something light and enjoyable that you can put down.

A cute premise, but it reads too stiff and abrupt that I found it difficult to connect to or enjoy. Would be an interesting Wes Anderson film, where the characters might be able to come to life and provide more depth/complexity.

I received a review copy of this book from Random House, UK, via NetGalley for which my thanks.

A newer entrant to the world of Japanese feel-good fiction, We’ll Prescribe You a Cat (Neko Wo Shoho Itashimatsu) follows the rough pattern/structure of other series like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Kamogawa Food Detectives and The Full Moon Coffee Shop in telling a set of stories connected by a place (sometimes in other ways, too), in this case a ‘Clinic for the Soul’ which gives rather unique prescriptions to people struggling with their mental health usually due to the stresses of daily life. No prizes for guessing that this is—a cat! So unlike in some of those series where the cat turns out to be customary or even non-existent (see my review of the first book of Coffee), in this one cats are very much at the centre of things and more importantly their role in the plot is just as what they are—ordinary cats (yes, I know no cat is ‘ordinary’, none of mine are)—reluctant to interact with their humans at first, having the zoomies, purring, escaping from windows, getting fur on things, and such. Originally published in 2023, this translation by E. Madison Shimoda published by Doubleday released just a few days ago (September 2024).

The stories are built around mostly unconnected (except for the last two) people, suffering due to the stresses of everyday life—overwork and disrespect in their company, an annoying new boss, scars of the past, or even a previously lost cat. All of them from word-of-mouth recommendations which reach them through a somewhat complicated network of connections find their way to the Nakagyo Kokoro Clinic for the Soul—run by Dr Nikké and his nurse Chitose. The scenario in which each person arrives at the clinic is much the same—being told that there isn’t much room for new patients but they are being accommodated because the patient expected is late or hasn’t turned up. Dr Nikké’s prescription for each too, is much the same, a cat, but not the same in each case, rather one suited to the patient in question and coming with a prescription—the duration that the ‘patient’ must keep and look after it (10 days to a fortnight) as also instructions as to food and care.

While some of the ‘patients’ might be slightly taken aback at first, most accept their prescriptions as a kind of animal-assisted therapy and willingly take their ‘medicine’ home. The cats (after whom each of the stories are titled) do nothing extraordinary or special, mostly the usual cat-ty things but for the ‘patients’, life begins to change in small and eventually bigger ways, starting from the simplest of things like tidying up (to protect the cat from anything that might prove a danger) to the cat’s antics or ‘songs’ diverting attention from what was bothering them. But do these become their forever cats? You’ll have to read the book to find that out but I will say, it isn’t always so (this isn’t a bad thing, either).

The cats themselves are adorable, ‘shown’ to us through an illustration at the beginning of each story—among them are Bee, a mixed breed with soft grey fur, Koyuki, a tiny white kitten with large paws and a hint of black fur around its ears, Tangerine, a ragdoll, and Mimita, a Scottish fold who looks like an ohagi (rice balls in sweet bean paste), a description that especially stood out to me as I ‘follow’ a cat called Ohagi on Instagram!

There is a fantasy element to the book as well, at first subtle but taking on different shades as we navigate the different stories, becoming increasingly mysterious and also a little strange. Even the clinic’s address—‘East of Tokoyakushi Street, south of Tominokoji Street, west of Rokkaku Street, north of Fuyacho Street, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto’—in the first stories, seems just ordinary, ‘This kind of address was unique to Kyoto’ but also an address that ‘had an obliqueness that seemed designed to keep outsiders away’. But in the later stories, as we begin to see a mystery around the clinic, the address almost begins to sound like a spell (for prospective patients, the confusion and irritation also persist). The ‘magic’ around the clinic works well in the initial stories but as we head to the end, while for patients, things still turn out well, the reader is perhaps left with more questions than answers as there are hints to several things but nothing spelled out. Perhaps something that might clear up in subsequent instalments (there seems only to be one more, also published in 2023)?

The stories themselves are lovely and heartwarming, each ‘patient’ finding a solution they need though not one they might have thought of, and showing how in sometimes subtle and at others not so subtle ways, cats impact our lives for the better. The fantasy element and the mystery surrounding it were strange but had me curious; I’d have liked more clues or answers to it, though.

A book that cat lovers and animal lovers more generally would especially enjoy.