Happy Neko No Hi Day. In Japan, Cats Day is huge and some of the country’s biggest companies demonstrate their love of cats by renaming themselves.
Japanese electronics maker Sharp Co. temporarily changed its company name to ‘Nyarp’ on its Twitter account. Tanita Corp, a weight and body fat scales changed its name to ‘Tanyata’ and placed a grey-coloured cat at the centre of the company’s logo. The company used social media to urge its followers to take photos of cats on the company’s scale.
The number 2 is pronounced ‘ni’ in Japanese, which can be associated with nya, the Japanese onomatopoeia for feline mewing. So the 22nd day of February — the second month — can be read as nya nya nya in Japanese, which is also the reason the Japan Pet Food Association officially designated Feb. 22 as Cat Day.
Sharp also added cat ears to its logo on its account, saying one of followers gave the graphic to the company.
Tanita Corp., a maker of weight and body fat scales, also changed its name to ‘Tanyata’ on the social media service and placed a gray-colored cat at the center of the company’s logo.
Tanita urged followers to take and share photos of cats on the firm’s scale and pass them along to friends.
Among the enthusiastic respondents was @s_nio, who calls himself a cat-poet and posted a picture of a cat on a scale — its weight apparently reading 222 grams on the device.
The list of “cat-loving” firms goes on: Pine Co., which is well-known for its pine-flavored candy, renamed its main product from Pain Ame (Pine Candy) to Pain Nyame; toy maker Takara Tomy changed its name to Takara Tomya; and food and snack company Imuraya called itself to Imunyaya on Wednesday.
The play on words even spread to more serious classical music circles: The Japan Philharmonic Orchestra changed its Twitter account name to ‘Nyapan’ Philharmonic Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra to Sendai ‘Philharmonya’ Orchestra, and classic music concert organizer Japan Arts to Japan Nyarts.
Meow! It's National Cat Day in Japan. These are the amazing things you can do todayhttps://t.co/2W819OO4VB pic.twitter.com/eF8srXJL9M
— 9GAG (@9GAG) February 22, 2017
h/t: Japan Times
