Februsry 22nd is national cat day here in Japan. The number 2 is pronouced "ni", when three 2s are in a row it sounds like "nyan,nyan,nyan" which is the sound for meow in Japanese.
National Cat Day was estabilished in 1987 with the aim to have a day to appreciate the happiness of living with cats.
Cats are a popular pet in Japan. There are cat islands, where there are more cats than people. Cat temples, cats that are station masters at small rural train stations and of course cat cafes.
A couple of years ago Hannah found a cat cafe in the large mall near where we use to live. She was surprised at how freindly the cats were and how clean everything was.
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| Cat Cafe |
One famous image of a cat is the "Maneki neko" or beckoning cat. This figurine was started in the Edo period as a lucky charm. It's a figurine of a cat sitting on it's back paws with one of it front paws up, as if calling to someone. If the left paw is up it's calling people or customers, if the right paw is up it's calling money. I've seen these in a lot of small shops, cafes, and restaurants.
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| Maneki neko |
Most of our cats are curled up together.
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| keeping warm |
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| Alan on the electric blanket |
It's gone very cold again, that's why the cats are curled up together, it's lunch time but only 7C. Forecast is for snow and rain! I'm glad that I don't have to go out today!
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