Best friends forever: One cat lady's sweet story

Miyoko Ihara started a project documenting her grandmother's relationship with a stray cat 13 years ago.

Ihara was a student at Nippon Photography Institute in Japan when her grandmother, Misao, discovered a white kitten near her house. She named it Fukumaru and they quickly became close friends.

The two did everything together. Fukumaru followed Misao while she worked in the field, cooked, napped and more. Ihara's project turned into a story of love between Misao and Fukumaru, yielding two photo books dedicated to the duo, ”Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat” and ”Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat, Goodbye, Hello."

Take a look at some of Ihara's photos.