Photo/Illutration Empress Masako brought this picture of Mii to the imperial family’s annual spring garden party in April. (Provided by the Imperial Household Agency)

The Imperial Household Agency released photos of the imperial family’s beloved cats to media outlets on June 6.

These pictures were the same ones Empress Masako had shown to the guests at the imperial family’s annual spring garden party on April 23 at the Akasaka Imperial Garden in Tokyo.

The charming scene of imperial family talking excitedly about their beloved pets and sharing photos with a party guest, contemporary artist Tadanori Yokoo, became a hot topic across Japan.

According to the agency, the imperial family currently has two cats, brown male Japanese tabbies named Mii and Seven.

The imperial family took in the stray cat Mii in May 2010, at the Akasaka Estate, where they lived at the time.

Mii was found alongside his mother and three other kittens. The imperial family adopted Mii and the mother cat, which they named “human” in Japanese, because she loved people. The other kittens were given to one of Aiko’s friends.

The mother cat spent the rest of her life as a member of the imperial family until she died in May 2016.

The pictures the agency released include a photo of Mii taken by Princess Aiko that was shown at the garden party, and a shot of Aiko feeding the cats, taken by the emperor and empress. She was in the third grade at Gakushuin Primary School at the time.

Meanwhile, the other cat, Seven, was adopted by the imperial family in September 2016.

Seven was taken in at Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward and handed over to the imperial family.

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