Are you a cat person? If so, Japan is the place to go on 22 February because this is when Cat Day is celebrated. Now for many years, Cat Day has lit up Japanese social media with endless portraits of cats as well as cat-themed doughnuts(甜甜圈), cat-shaped biscuits, cat cartoons, cats staring out of windows and so on. It is Japan’s hugest popularity on social media.  

Known as “Neko no Hi”, it was chosen because the date’s numerals(数字), 2/22 (ni ni ni), are pronounced fairly closely to the sound a cat makes in Japan (nyan nyan nyan). Over the years the day has become a commercial success, with shops and businesses selling cat-themed items. Disney in Japan declared the day to be “Marie Day,” while newspaper Asahi Shimbun marked the occasion with a special report from one of Japan’s cat cafes, where you can sit for an hour or two in the company of numerous spoiled cats.

The event began in 1987 after cat-lovers across Japan was surveyed by an Executive Cat Day Committee and decided that February 22 should be Cat Day. Other countries also have days to celebrate cats, but few are marked with as much enthusiasm as Japan.

There were some of Japan’s celebrity cats. A cat called Tama made headlines after becoming honorary stationmaster(站长) of a train station in Wakayama county. Wearing a special cat-sized stationmaster’s hat, she was a popular tourist attraction until her death in June 2015. Tama was officially introduced into a Hall of Fame for the station’s train line in February 2016. Meanwhile, a cat called Maru became an Internet surprise with a series of YouTube videos. The videos have had huge viewing figures since 2008, with one early film gaining 21.7 million views.