The date was decided upon after an executive cat day committee polled 9,000 cat lovers, according to an Associated Press article from 1987.
Social media users flooded the internet with cute pictures of cats.
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They voted that 2-22, pronounced “ni-ni-ni” in Japanese, best replicated the “nyan nyan nyan” sound.
Today Japanese people have been marking the big day with millions of cat-loving posts on social media.
A re-creation of a cat which features in the Japanese animation My Neighbour Totoro.
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Feline selfies, kitty-shaped snacks, hilarious cat pranks and moggy-themed costumes were among the images and videos which flooded the internet.
A Japanese doll which appears to combine human and feline features.
The event arrived just a week after it emerged that thousands of Japanese tourists were flocking to visit a cat with “lucky eyebrows” at a tobacconist just north of Tokyo.
