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Japan’s cat testicle calendar is here for nyantama fans to go nuts with

Casey Baseel Sep 11, 2024
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“Please feel soothed by the powered-up cat testicles.”

We recently took a look at a trio of calendars from Studio Ghibli. They’re all delightful creations for fans of the acclaimed animation house, but I know there are at least some people whose reaction is “Yeah, they’re nice and all, but I’m not really that big an anime fan. I’m more into cats…and specifically I’m more into cat testicles.”

And hey, no problem, we’ve got you covered, in an uncovered way, on that front too!

Preorders are currently open for the 2025 edition of the Nyantama Calendar. As always, I feel it’s my duty to explain the unusual linguistics involved. In Japanese, nyan is an onomatopoeia for a cat meowing, and by extension can be used to refer to cats themselves. Tama, meanwhile, means “orb” or “orbs” (Japanese doesn’t distinguish between singular and plural nouns), which is also a slang word for “testicles.”

So yes, the Nyantama Calendar is a calendar with pictures prominently presenting cat balls. But how did calendar maker Hagoromo come up with this idea? It all goes back to Nikkan Gendai, a long-running gossip tabloid magazine. Once a year, Nikkan Gendai does a gag issue that’s all about cats and includes a nyantama photo collection. Reader surveys later revealed that the nyantama section was one of their favorite parts, and that positive reaction ispired the creaiton of the calendar.

▼ Nikkan Gendai’s all-cat issue, Nikkan Nyandai

“Please feel soothed by the powered-up cat testicles,” says Hagoromo in the announcement that promises somehow-improved cat nuts compared to the previous iterations of the calendar, which has been published since at least 2022.

In addition to its highly-specialized visual appeal, the Nyantama Calendar also includes extensive information on how lucky any day of the year is, based on multiple fortune-telling folk traditions, which gives it its full official name, the Good Luck Nyantama ω Calendar (it’s unclear if the ω is meant to actually be read out-loud as “omega” or is just there because it looks like a nut sack). To keep the good-luck ball rolling, purchasing the calendar through Amazon Japan or Rakuten also gets you a good-luck nyantama card, sized to fit in your wallet or smartphone case, so that you can have cat testicle photos close at hand even when you have to leave the comfort of your cat testicle calendar-decorated home.

▼ Amazon card

▼ Rakuten card

“Please enjoy cat testicles in the two different ways, decorating your room with the calendar and carrying the card with you at all times wherever you go,” says Hagoromo.

▼ By the way, it should be noted that cat testicles are not a traditional symbol of good luck in Japan.

The 2025 Nyantama Calendar consists of 28 40 x 30 centimeter (15.7 x 11.8-inch) pages, is priced at 1,760 yen (US$12), and can be ordered through Amazon here and Rakuten here.

Source, images: PR Times
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: PR Times, Pakutaso
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