Pork Anniversaries in Japan

Our search of the Japan Anniversary Association’s registry (September 6, 2026) found no entry under the exact Japanese name “豚肉の日” (Pork Day). What Japan does have is a string of pork-related anniversaries through the year — Pork Bowl Day, Tonkatsu Day, Pork Bun Day, Cured Ham Day and more — most of them registered by a company, a trade group or a town. This calendar is a selection of 17 observances, each marked with how far we could confirm it: 13 on the association’s registry, 2 on an official page of the founder or a public body, and 2 whose founder or origin we could not verify. November 11, the day this calendar goes live, brings together Pork Bun Day and Cured Ham Day.

How Japan’s “days” work

Most Japanese anniversaries are not public holidays. They are registered days: a company or association picks a date, usually a pun on numbers (goroawase), files it with the Japan Anniversary Association, and uses it for promotion. “Ton” is read as 10, and “katsu” also means “to win” — first place — so Tonkatsu Day is October 1. The pig’s snout looks like the number 11, so Pork Bun Day is November 11. In the table below, ★ means we confirmed the date, founder and origin on the association’s registry page, ◎ means the founder’s or a public body’s official page, and △ means secondary sources only.

The calendar: 17 pork anniversaries (15 dates)

Eleven of the seventeen entries fall in October and November — appetite season in Japan, when tonkatsu, hot pots and steaming pork buns come into their own.

February–May: Butadon, National Pig Day and Gochipo

February 10 — Butadon Day

“Bu” for 2 and “ta” for 10. Registered by Sorachi, a Hokkaido maker of sauces, to spread the word about butadon, the grilled pork rice bowl that is the pride of the Tokachi region. The story of the dish is in our regional pork dishes of Hokkaido. It also happens to be the day TokyoPorkPlus went online (see the end of this page).

March 1 — National Pig Day (United States)

A US observance rather than a Japanese one, included because it turns up in Japanese searches. It is a day for the animal, not the dinner plate. The founder and founding year have not been verified from primary sources, and it is not on the Japanese registry.

Third Sunday of May — Gochipo Day

Short for “gochiso pork” (a pork feast), registered by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Gochipo Day celebrates American pork in Japan: a weekend before the rainy season to eat it and get ready for summer. For Japanese-raised brands, start with the Japan Brand Pork Encyclopedia.

August: ham and yakiniku

August 6 — Ham Day

“Ha” for 8, “mu” for 6 — a date food makers use in recipe promotions. The founder has not been verified from primary sources: it is not in the association’s registry and we could not find it on the industry cooperative’s own site. We will update this entry when we can verify it.

August 29 — Yakiniku Day

The date uses a number pun: ya(ki) for 8, ni for 2, and ku for 9. The All Japan Yakiniku Association set it in 1993 so that people would eat grilled meat to beat the late-summer slump (confirmed in an Akita Prefecture document). Yakiniku can feature pork as well as beef, and pork yakiniku has deep local roots; several appear in our regional pork dishes series.

September–October: Kurobuta, tonkatsu, tonkotsu, okonomiyaki and Okinawa soba

September 6 — Kagoshima Kuroushi & Kurobuta Day

“Ku-ro” (black) reads as 9-6. The Kagoshima brand promotion council for black cattle and black pigs set the day in 1998 to build the brands and boost consumption. Why only purebred Berkshire can be sold as Kurobuta in Japan — and how Kagoshima Kurobuta is certified — is in Kurobuta Meaning: Japanese Black Pork and Kagoshima Kurobuta.

October 1 — Tonkatsu Day

“Ton” is 10, and “katsu” also means “to win” — number one. Registered by Ajino Chinuya, a frozen-food maker in Kagawa, for the season of appetite and school sports days, when a cutlet is eaten for luck. If you are choosing pork for tonkatsu, see which brand pork makes the best tonkatsu, and for ordering in a shop, how to read a tonkatsu menu.

October 2 — Tonkotsu Ramen Day

“Ton-kotsu” reads as 10-2. The day was established by the Kurume Ramen Association in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, to raise the profile of the city regarded as the birthplace of pork-bone broth ramen. Explore other pork dishes of the region in our guide to Kyushu.

October 10 — Miyazaki Brand Pork Day and Okonomiyaki Day

“Ton-ton” is 10-10: Miyazaki Brand Pork Day, registered by the prefecture’s promotion council for pork from producers who meet Miyazaki’s safety standards. The same date is Okonomiyaki Day, registered by Otafuku Sauce of Hiroshima — “ju-ju,” the sizzle on the griddle, sounds like 10-10. Pork belly is the classic okonomiyaki topping; the Hiroshima and Osaka styles are compared in regional pork dishes of Chugoku and Kansai.

October 17 — Okinawa Soba Day

On October 17, 1978, the designation “Honba Okinawa Soba” was approved under the labeling rules for fresh noodles, and the Okinawa Noodle Cooperative established Okinawa Soba Day in 1997 (confirmed on the cooperative’s site). The noodles come topped with simmered pork belly or spare ribs, so it is very much a pork day. Okinawa’s pork culture and its native Agu pig are in regional pork dishes of Okinawa and Agu Pork.

November: sausage, tonkatsu again, pork buns, cured ham, Ibérico and “good meat”

November 1 — Sausage Day

One of the few pork days based on a historical event rather than a pun. On November 1, 1917, Ichizo Oki exhibited domestically made sausages at the first Kanagawa livestock fair. The day was registered by the chamber of commerce of Yokoshibahikari, a town in Chiba.

Rittō, the first day of winter (November 7 in 2026) — Tonkatsu Day, again

Hirono, a Nagoya tonkatsu restaurant, proposed eating tonkatsu at Rittō — the first day of winter in the traditional calendar — as a seasonal custom for welcoming winter, and registered the day in 2018. Rittō falls on November 7 or 8 depending on the year; in 2026 it is November 7 in Japan. Together with October 1, it makes autumn the cutlet season.

November 11 — Butaman (Pork Bun) Day

Look at a pig’s snout: two nostrils, side by side, like the number 11. That is why November 11 is Pork Bun Day, registered by the committee of the KOBE Butaman Summit to promote Kobe’s pork buns. The first summit in November 2011 brought together Kobe’s famous shops — Roushouki in Nankin-machi, which describes itself as the birthplace of the name butamanjū, Shikohroh in Motomachi and Sannomiya Ikkanrou — each with an original bun (association registry and the organizer’s record). The pork dishes of the Kansai region are in regional pork dishes of Kansai.

November 11 — Cured Ham Day (Nama Ham no Hi)

The same date is Cured Ham Day, established by the Japan Cured Ham Association. It borrows from Spain’s St. Martin’s Day (November 11), traditionally when pigs were slaughtered and the hams salted for curing. The day offers an opportunity to explore dry-cured ham made in Japan.

November 15 — Ibérico Pork Day

“Ii-i-beriko” reads as 11-1-5. Registered by TAISHI, an Osaka company, to explain the grading of Ibérico pork — a Japanese anniversary named for a Spanish breed. You can browse Japan’s own brands by breed in the Japan Brand Pork Encyclopedia.

November 29 — Good Meat Day

“Ii-niku” (good meat) reads as 11-29. Registered by the Miyazaki Beef council, so beef is the headliner — but butcher counters and supermarkets run “good meat day” sales on pork too, and Miyazaki is a major pork prefecture. Its brands are in the Japan Brand Pork Encyclopedia.

Is there a “Pork Day” or a “Pork Shabu-Shabu Day”?

On September 6, 2026, we searched the association’s registry and the web for the exact Japanese names of the following and could not confirm a registry entry for any of them: Pork Day (豚肉の日), Tonjiru (pork miso soup) Day, Pork Shabu-Shabu Day, Sangenton (three-way cross) Day, Mochibuta Day, Tonteki Day, Bacon Day, Chashu Day, Kakuni Day, SPF Pork Day and Agu Day. This refers to the exact names searched, not to every observance containing similar words. When a Japanese date is described as “pork day,” it is usually one of the seventeen above under a dish’s name. This calendar is a selection, not an exhaustive list of food-related observances.

Our own two dates

TokyoPorkPlus went online on February 10, 2026, with its first article on TOKYO X — by coincidence, Butadon Day. On June 6, 2026, Tonta, our AI editor, joined the editorial team. As of October 2026, our encyclopedia covers 419 Japanese pork brands in Japanese and English, and the guides keep coming. Look for a first-anniversary feature on February 10, 2027.

Quick answers

Summary

Seventeen pork anniversaries in this selection, most of them number puns, eleven of them in October and November. Pick a date, find the region behind it, and try that region’s brand pork or local dish — it is a simple way to turn an ordinary pork dinner into a small occasion. We will add new entries as they are registered. Brands by region are in the Japan Brand Pork Encyclopedia; the dishes are in Japanese Pork Basics.

Sources

• 日本記念日協会「豚丼の日」（Japan Anniversary Association: Butadon Day）
• 日本記念日協会「ごちポの日」（Gochipo Day）
• 日本記念日協会「鹿児島黒牛・黒豚の日」（Kagoshima Kuroushi & Kurobuta Day）
• 日本記念日協会「トンカツの日」（Tonkatsu Day）
• 日本記念日協会「とんこつラーメンの日」（Tonkotsu Ramen Day）
• 日本記念日協会「宮崎ブランドポークの日」（Miyazaki Brand Pork Day）
• 日本記念日協会「お好み焼の日」（Okonomiyaki Day）
• 日本記念日協会「ソーセージの日」（Sausage Day）
• 日本記念日協会「立冬はとんかつの日」（Tonkatsu on the First Day of Winter）
• 日本記念日協会「豚饅の日」（Butaman Day）
• 日本記念日協会「生ハムの日」（Cured Ham Day）
• 日本記念日協会「イベリコ豚の日」（Ibérico Pork Day）
• 日本記念日協会「いい肉の日」（Good Meat Day）
• 沖縄生麺協同組合「沖縄そばの日」（Okinawa Noodle Cooperative: Okinawa Soba Day）
• 秋田県「焼肉の日」資料（Akita Prefecture: Yakiniku Day, All Japan Yakiniku Association, 1993）
• Fast Company, “National Pig Day” (secondary source for the 1972 origin)
• 国立天文台「令和8年（2026）暦要項」（National Astronomical Observatory of Japan: date of Rittō 2026）
• Japan Cured Ham Association (official English name)

Last updated
November 12, 2026