Holidays!
A string of holidays are coming up! In America, we have a bunch of totally random national holidays spread out here and there, mostly on Mondays or Fridays so the weekends are extended. Japan takes their random national holidays and lumps a bunch of them together into this thing called “Golden Week.” I quite like this idea, and I’m looking forward to the break! The downside is I’ll probably forget all the teachers’ names I’ve been struggling to learn this first stretch of work. :p
So Golden Week … there’s Children’s Day, Showa Day (celebration of the emperor’s birthday), Constitution Memorial Day, and Green(ery) Day. Children's Day used to just be Boy’s Day, but now it’s both (even though there’s a Girl’s Day in March, which is interesting). Families will hang out carp-shaped paper banners that day. Hopefully we can get some pictures! I’m not really sure if anything special happens on the other days, but everyone is looking forward to it!
Children’s Day Koinobori (carp-shaped paper banners)
Greenery Day ~ http://www.tokyotopia.com/greenery-day.html
I'll post about Golden Week if I get to see any of the interesting things that happen. The parks are supposed to be beautiful and crowded on Greenery Day, so we'll be checking out those near us!
Golden Weeeeeek! You should take an awesome trip or something. Take lots of pictures and post lots of updates. ^_^
ReplyDeleteI will now spend the rest of the day trying to decide which system is better-- having the random holidays spread out during the year or lumped together. Both have their benefits and downsides. Hmmmmmmmm . . .
I want to go somewhere cool, but it would probably cost money I don't yet have. Sigh and sigh.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, there are benefits and downsides to both option -- though I think Japan just has more holidays period, anyway ... just no awfully long ones like that 3-month summer in the states -- and let's face it, summer is only a long holiday for school kids, adults are still working. :p