Cat skins are stretched across the drum of the shamisen, a traditional stringed Japanese instrument. Shamisen cat catchers naturally go for friendly, easy to catch cats with clean unblemished skins, i.e. pet cats. They don't want to waste time catching feral cats which may have a blemished skin. Word has it that the cats are skinned alive so that the skins maintain the height of freshness and flexibility. But since these cat-catching operations are so covert and the places they are killed secret, it is very difficult to get evidence. Since the shamisen skin has to be replaced every year, the number of skins needed is enormous as it is a popular instrument. Dog skins are sometimes used when cats skins aren't available but the tone of the shamisen deteriorates as a result.
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