Happy Nyan Nyan Nyan Day!
Celebrating Japan’s 27th Annual Cat Day
How many of you knew that today, February 22, was Japan’s 27th Annual Cat Day? I ran across details about this Japanese celebration in the Washington Post blog and had to bring it to everyone’s attention here. There are some interesting facts noted in the blog about cats in Japan where they are especially popular.
First of all, Nyan means “meow” in English.
“The holiday is not just a recent fad, and it may not have even started spontaneously," wrote Max Fisher in his blog for the Washington Post. "I found an Associated Press story from 1987 titled 'Japan Celebrates Annual Cat Day.' According to the story, that Tokyo gathering was the first annual of a holiday that now appears to be in its 27th year. The story also explains The Executive Cat Day Committee chose Feb. 22 as Cat Day after polling nearly 9,000 cat fanciers." wrote Fisher.
Many interesting facts were brought to light in the blog:
*Did you know that the Japanese own about 10 million cats? This is one of the highest cats per capita rates in the world.
*Japanese people go to cat-filled theme cafes, of which there were at least 79 when the trend began three years ago.
*The Japanese design cat-friendly houses.
*The Japanese maintain a tourist-friendly, cat-dominated island and pass cat-oriented animal treatment laws.
The Washington Post blogger postulates the Japanese may have even invented the obsessive cat memes and videos that now dominate so much human time.
"One of Japan’s most Web-famous cats, Maru, is known for her much-watched YouTube videos and has an agent, a U.S. publicist and a Japanese publicist."
Above: Cats sleep on a street sign in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district.
Credit: Itsuo Inouye — Associated Press
Happy Nyan Nyan Nyan Day!
Susan, Gemini and Taurus
