We did not know that today, February 2, is "No. 2 Day." Small wonder recognition is low: the Japan Anniversary Association only accepted the application a year ago.
According to reports in the Mainichi and elsewhere, the applicant was the Japan No. 2 Association, founded by a citizens' group in Minami-Alps, Yamanashi Prefecture, home to Kita-dake, the 3,193-meter peak second only to Fuji. The association's website listed this reason for the day:
"There are many valuable No. 2s, such as Lake Kasumigaura in Kasumigaura, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan's second-largest lake after Biwa, and Shinkoro in Izushi, Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, the second-oldest clock tower after Sapporo's. Through the anniversary we want people to know Japan's various runners-up and No. 2s, raise their appeal, let No. 2 fellows exchange and promote them widely as a new angle on regional tourism."
They may stand in the shade compared with first place, but second place has hidden charm and value. Fourteen years after the famous (or infamous) budget-screening line "Does it have to be No. 1?", an era in which "No. 2" also gets the spotlight has arrived. (The article appeared in the Mainichi's Yamanashi edition, April 2022.)