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Commentary By Hank F. Miller Jr.
If you\’re like me, the one thing you need at the end of a long run of holidays is……Yet another holiday.
Thus here in Japan we have Coming of Age Day, which follows New Year\’s like mint after a heavy meal. Ostensibly the day has been set aside to celebrate, the passage of youth into adulthood, but
The real celebrants are those folks in desperate need of just one more day as they slowly wean themselves back to work.
It occurs to me that other Japanese holidays could stand a bit of interpretation as well. It\’s one thing to have a day off. It\’s another thing to know why. And it is even one thing more to care:
An inside peak at the real meanings behind Japanese national holidays.
New Year\’s (Jan.1st.):
This is the champion of all holidays in Japan, with most businesses shutting down from late December into the first week of January. During this time, most people do little more than lie around literally and eat. They consume\”mikan\” (rice cakes), mikan and mikan, plus a variety of other festive foods, not to mention mikan. But the key word is \”consume,\” a central concept for every Japanese holiday.
\”Coming of Age Day (second Monday of January)\”
Another reason for this extra day of rest is so that young girls can get decked out in jazzy kimonos. This in turn, is satisfying the hungry camera bug the nests deep in the hearts of most Japanese. Venture out at your own risk; both kimonos and camera flashes can be blinding.
Foundation day (Feb.11th.):
Foundation Day commemorates the ascending of the throne of the first Japanese emperor around 667 B.C. So this holiday is nothing bit unadulterated Shinto–which is probably not nearly as fun as adulterated Shinto. Regardless, most Japanese are not so devout, and usually save their enthusiasm for more secular events, such as sales of Valentine\’s day chocolates.
Spring Equinox Day (March23rd):
The Japanese love equinoxes almost as much as they love cemeteries, so they have combined these two passions into one wild holiday. Or rather two holidays. For on this day, people tidy up their family headstones so they can spic and span for the next equinox/cemetery day in September.
Green Day (April, 29th.):
This is also the birthday of the Emperor Showa, who was not green but rather gray, especially near the end. Green–in Japanese, the borrowed English word can mean nature–is so far the only color with its own holiday, though if the economy keeps sinking, red may soon follow.
Constitution Day (May 3 rd.):
Constitution day honors–what else?–the Japanese Constitution. The document itself may be somewhat controversial, but the day off is beloved by all. This day also marks the second of the Golden Week gauntlet of celebrations–a string of free days that most people want protected more than the Constitution.
Citizens Day (May, 14th.):
Also known as \”Between Day,\” this new holiday came about when the Japanese National Diet finally noticed that lonely, little space between Constitution Day and Children\’s Day. The rest of the country is now waiting for the Diet to notice the 75 other lonely, little spaces that all between Golden Week and the next holiday.
Children\’s Day (May 5, th.):
When you have kids, every day is children\’s day, but May 5 this especially famous for those high flying banners Japanese carp that designate the number in each household–or, more traditionally, the number of boys. My own boys, incidentally, will implore me to go fly a kite no matter what the day.
Marine Day (July 20 the.):
\”But why is it called marine Day here today???\”
This upholds their island nation. No, not the U.S.Marines, near here on Okinawa, The Sea–and its prodigious bounty. It\’s sort of \”Take a fish to lunch sort of thing.\”Just don\’t forget the scale and the lemon.
Respect for the Aged Day (Sept.15th.):
Respect is cheap, and with so many old-timers now in Japan, that\’s about all Japan can afford.
Also note how close this is to the cemetery day. Japanese are nothing if subtle.
Fall Equinox (Sept.23rd.):
This second equinox / cemetery day is known as\”Shubun no Hi\” in Japanese, while the first is \”Shunbun no Hi.\”Confused? Perhaps the lawmakers were too, which could be why we ended up with two such holidays.
Sports Day (Oct.10th.)\”
Most people think Japanese worship sports 365 days a year,–nope–this is the only official day,
Added to cheer the children after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Culture Day (Nov. 3rd.):
Japanese usually spend this day attending school
Festivals where they stuff themselves with hot dogs on sticks and chocolate-covered bananas. How cultural can you get? This day was also the birthday of the Emperor Meiji, a huge hot dog lover, I sure.
Labor Thanksgiving Day (Nov.23rd.):
I have never experienced labor myself, but my wife did twice and seemed thankful only when it was done. Also, on this day I think everyone is supposed to thank me for laboring over these silly jokes.
The Emperor\’s Birthday (Dec.23rd.):
Devoid of angels, wise men, shepherds and virgins, this less auspicious of the holiday births at least serves to usher in the Christmas/New Year\’s season, which means that, yes, once again it is
Time to eat mikan once again.
Naturally, Japan has a collection of folk holidays as well. Plus the Japanese National Diet, has recently established the King of all Oxymoron\’s–Happy Monday–which yanks certain holidays out of their regular orbits and plants them on Monday\’s,
Creating a slate of three-day weekends.
This shows just how bad we all need that \”one more day.\”
Warm Regards From Kitakyushu City, Japan
Hank F. Miller Jr.
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