bem's Topics (107)

Cat day in Japan? When is that?
In my city, it's second Sunday of May.

It's on 22 February, basically 2-22
In Japan "2" is “ni”（に） , and cat sounds "nya" (にゃ）.
if it uses hiragana it will be "ni (に）+ ya(や）= nya (にゃ）
So 222 is cat's day in Japan because it's like cat's sound.

A so desu ka. Omoshiroi ne!
Is that everywhere in Japan, or just in some region?
I live in a city (Ypres) that has an actual Cat Festival, with a parade and everything. We get lots of Japanese tourists that day, it's great fun. Dates from early in the Middle Ages.
Is the Cat day in Japan a Shinto thing, or just folklore?
I'm interested, and since we Yprish are nicknamed "cats" ever since like the 1100's, I'm a cat,, so I'm also curious... ;-)

Wow that's cool to have a parade, sounds fun.
Cat day is everywhere in japan but I dont know the details if it's a folklore or not, sorry.
Maybe because the date is 222 so it is a cat day.
And also for your information japan also has pocky day on 11-1 because the number looks like a shape of pocky. They sure to celebrate everything lol XD

That's a fear celebration, those are really old. Smallpocks were a much dreaded disease in Japan, because Japanese people are kin to Inuit and Native Americans, and they have little immunity against it. So it was like the plague in Europe: thousands of deaths every breakout. That I know. Shinto gods were begged to come to the rescue and when they did, the people were really grateful. Hence the pocks day celebration, I guess. In Catholic countries we have that too: several saints were suposed to help against some diseases, and when they did, to thank them people would hang plaques in the chapel, or little statues of body parts (the parts that were healed, like feet or heads or ears. They were called "ex voto')
Typhoid fever and cholera was never such a threat in Japan, because their water was never contaminated nationwide, the way it was in Europe, which we owed to the water works the Romans did. Everywhere the Romans had plumming installed, people were forced to drink wine or beer instead of water for ever, in fear of getting sick.
In Japan, there's a lot of mountains with clear wells, so there was not so much of that going on. But smallpocks, yeah.
You live in Japan, or just very much interested in the country, just like me?

Wow I didn't expect a theory like this, honestly It would be interesting to see this ╮(￣▽￣)╭