Question: Why is Feb. 22 National Cat Day in Japan?
Answer: Because the date meows. The Japanese word for two is “ni,” which sounds like “nyan,” the Japanese version of “meow,” so 2/22 reads as nyan-nyan-nyan, or meow-meow-meow. The holiday was created in 1987 by a committee working with Japan’s pet food association as a day to appreciate life with cats. Cats arrived in Japan aboard ships of Buddhist missionaries in the sixth century, hired to keep rodents away from the scriptures, and have been a fixture of Japanese life and literature ever since.
