During this time, the mayor of Taketomi was making negotiations with the and the Ryukyu government. He traveled to Naha for these discussions, which covered the possibility of offering the two captured Iriomote cats to the emperor with the stated purpose of increasing national knowledge about Iriomote and for the promotion of industrial development on the island. At the same time, the Taketomi town offices, under the premise of obtaining permission from the Ryukyu government to keep the cats, confiscated samples from the staff of the National Museum of Nature and Science and brought them back to their offices.