February 29, another "Meat Day"! - Eh?

Welcome to another episode on what's happening in/on/to Japan. I'm your navigator, Nathan Shiga.

Right - what about February 29 and what about meat day?
Well, here's an episode to wise you up with, folks, on a cool cultural heritage in Japan. First, you'll need a handful of knowledge on Japanese. Bear with me just for a while. If you can count from one to ten in Japanese, just skip the following paragraph and read on.

In Japanese we count one thru ten - ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, ku, and ju. Got it? Ichi-ni-san means 1-2-3; ni-ni-ku is 2-2-9. That's it. Meat in Japanese is "niku"- that's jiffy. OK. That's all you have to know to follow this episode with.

God knows how long ago it was, our butchers named every 29th day of the month the "Meat Day" (29=niku=meat)
and ever since every "meaty" restaurant counts on extra proceeds that day. In the month of February, however, when the 29th day comes only once in four years, they named February 9th in its place.

This month of February happens to have the 29th day and our butchers have two Meat Days instead of one. A steak house in Otemachi, Tokyo, served twice as many customers, 250 or so, for less just today .

A youngish woman in her 30's grinned, "It's Meat Day today, so I came to give myself a treat. Delicious."

Director Hiroshi Kutsuzawa of the JA MeatFoods that owns and operates the house, comments:

"We think the 29th day of the month is a great opportunity to promote the quality of domestic cattle. February 29th is a precious day for us as it comes once in four years - an extra Meat Day."

Well, that's all about the Meat Day. Got it?