Golden Week

In Japan, Spring is well and truly here. The new school term has started and for university graduates, new jobs also begin. The Japanese have very few holidays other than public holidays throughout the year, many employees not even taking their allotted annual leave. But, at this time of the year, most enjoy a very pleasant break for us.

The May weather is kind of mild and, although the cherry blossoms are over, the pale pinks and purples of spring flowers garland the trees and bushes and, with summer coming soon, it is the perfect time for a holiday. We, Japanese get days off at this time which is named "Golden Week." The week is formed by a number of different festivals and holidays which all happen to fall around the same time so it is tradition now to take the whole period from April 29th to May 5th. If weekends fall at the right time, this can stretch to 11 days.

The festival which falls on the first day of this week, May 29th, is 'Showa no Hi', former Greenery Day, a national holiday which originally celebrated the birthday of Emperor Showa since his death in 1989.

The second day is 'Kenpoo Kinen Bi', Constitution Memorial Day, another national holiday which commemorates the inception of the Japanese post-war Constitution on May 3rd 1947.

The third day is 'Midori no Hi', Green Day, as a national holiday in Japan stems from the celebration of the Emperor Shōwa's birthday on April 29 every year during the Shōwa era.　However, in 2007, Greenery Day moved to May 4.

The final day is 'Kodomo no Hi', Children's Day, a national holiday celebrating the health and growth of children. Celebrated on May 5th, Children's Day is a Shinto festival that used to be for boys but has now been renamed to celebrate both boys and girls. 'Koi Nobori', Carp kites are flown above rooftops and in the streets and samurai dolls and Armour are brought out and displayed.

As well as the "traditional" holidays, many companies also give May 1st (May Day) as a holiday and, since May 4th falls between two national holidays, it was also declared one and named 'Kokumin no Kyujitsu', a rest day. With all of these holidays one after another, it has become common for the whole period from April 29th to May 5th to be a break.