文化の日

Today is Bunka no Hi  (boonka no hee) or Culture Day a national holiday in Japan.

Originally November 3rd was celebrated as the Meiji Emperor's birthday (Tencho-setsu 天長節), but in 1948 this day's name was changed to Culture Day. The government and schools annually award prizes for cultural achievement to celebrate the day. The prestigious Order of Culture is awarded on this day to leading figures in the world of science, culture and the arts.

Schools, universities, banks and offices close but museums usually stay open.

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シルバーウィーク

This weekend sees the first day of a five-day stretch of holidays that is being dubbed in the Japanese press as "Silver Week" in reference to "Golden Week" - a similar but longer run of public holidays that fall at the end of April and the beginning of May.

Monday is Respect For The Aged Day (Keiro no hi), followed by "Between Day" on Tuesday before Autumn Equinox Day (Shubun no hi) on Wednesday.

This is the first time that a five day period of holidays has fallen in September and businesses are hoping that the holiday period will boost domestic demand for tours and hotel and ryokan bookings.

Since a change in the law in 2000 public holidays falling on a Sunday meant a day off on the Monday - the so-called "Happy Monday" and any day sandwiched between two public holidays qualifies as a day off as well.

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ゴールデンウィーク

Today (Showa-no-hi) is the first public holiday of the so-called Golden Week holidays that fall at the end of April and the beginning of May.

Golden Week sees a mass exodus from the cities as people may traditionally travel home, or take a short vacation either in Japan or overseas. The mass exit and return ("U-turn") is marked by long traffic jams and packed airports.

Some hotels, onsen spas and ryokan (tradition Japanese inns) may levy a small surcharge at this time.

The national holidays falling in the Golden Week period are Showa Day (April 29), Constitution Memorial Day (May 3), Greenery Day (May 4) and Children's Day (May 5). This year the holidays include April 29th and Monday May 4-Wednesday May 6 as Constitution Day (Kenpo kinenbi) falls on the Sunday, 3rd.



Japanese carp streamers or koinobori at this time of year especially on Children's Day or Boy's Day on May 5. The carp symbolize the virility and perseverance of the males of the household.

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休日

Kyujitsu (pronounced "queue-jeet-sue") means "holiday" in Japanese, the kyu meaning "rest" or "time off" and the jitsu meaning "day". At present there are 17 of them per year. For the vast majority of Japanese, these are supplemented by no more than a week of personal holidays, meaning that few people get more than a total of about three weeks off work per year.

For all its temperateness and beauty, fall is, for many people, somehow a rather tiring season as the weather cools down and the effects of summer's constant battle with the heat start to make themselves really felt. And, sure enough, the season features four days off as if in recognition of this.

21 September is Keiro no Hi, or Respect for the Aged Day. 23 September is Shubun no Hi, or the Autumnal Equinox. 12 October is Taiiku no Hi, or Sports Day. And 3 November, i.e. this Monday just past, is Bunka no Hi, or Culture Day.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, or, in the Japanese vernacular, quite simply "Study hard, play hard" – Yoku manabi, yoku asobe.



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お盆休み

It’s O-Bon season in Japan. This is the time of year when souls of the dead are said to return to the family home, and, traditionally, people return to the family home to pray for those souls’ repose.

And, sure enough, Tokyo is pretty deserted this week, especially today. My cycle ride to work this morning was a rather eerie experience, what with the almost silent streets that, being almost free of cars and trucks, seemed much wider and longer.

The Japanese word for holiday/break is yasumi. It is therefore very easy to ask people about whether and when they'll be off by asking, for example:
“Ashita (tomorrow) wa (marking the subject “ashita”) yasumi (holiday) desu ka (question tag)?”

Ashita wa yasumi desu ka.
(Is tomorrow a holiday?/Are you on holiday tomorrow?)

Or, instead of tomorrow, asatte (the day after tomorrow), or raishuu (next week).

Another, more sophisticated, way of expressing the idea of a holiday or break is the Chinese reading of the character for yasumi, which is kyuu. It can be used as a shorthand for yasumi, but only in conjunction with another character.

For example, the Chinese character for “facility” or “hall” is pronounced kan. You’ll see it at the end of words like toshokan (library), or taiikukan (gymnasium), or eigakan (cinema). Therefore, if you want to ask if a facility is going to be closed, you can use the word kyuukan. "Ashita wa kyuukan desu ka?" (Will this place be closed tomorrow?)

The Chinese reading of the Japanese word tsuzuku,“to continue,” is ren. So the shorthand renkyuu expresses “continuing holidays," or, in more normal English, “consecutive holidays”. O-bon, being four days - August 13 to 16 - is a renkyuu.


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