Take a Holiday
Holiday Celebrate
Holiday Celebrate
If we took a holiday
Took some time to celebrate
Just one day out of life
It would be, it would be so nice
Madonna
I was starting the tale about our trip out to Kurohime during Golden Week and realized that I have never written a tale about vacations and the holiday mentality that takes over during the three big Japanese holidays: New Year, Golden Week and Obon. But first, lets look at the Japanese work mindset.
Five and half years ago we moved to Japan. At that time I took a Japanese class taught by one of the four worst teachers I have had the misfortune to meet. The list, which I will include because I know how you, my 14 loyal readers, love my tangents, looks like this: Mrs. Rinker, one of those mean old women with a shrunken and shriveled apple face who ruled over my sixth grade social studies class; Mrs. Evenko, whom I never heard speak Spanish, wore a permanent frown, hair bun, and brown plaid dresses (clearly NOT her color despite having an autumnal demeanor) obsession for Spanish verb congugations; That hunched over freak who would wet and then comb his hair at the water fountain before stumbling into class and then proceed to ramble about economics while everyone stared out the window and drew cartoons in their college ruled notebooks; and last and least, the well articulated and butcherer of English grammar who told me that in addition to こにちわ(Konichiwa) and さよおなら（Sayonara）, the third most important greeting I needed to learn was おさきにしつりえします（Osakini Shitsurie Shimasu.） This last one is the phrase used a Japanese worker has to leave work before another person. Its rough translation is, “I am sorry I am such a loser and I hope you can find it in your heart of hearts to forgive me for leaving work before you do.”
It is partly due to this “I must be the last to leave” mentality that led to the National Holiday Laws. That is right. Not only are the National Holidays established by law, they mandate that you take the day off. The law also stipulates that if one of the major holidays falls on a Sunday, then the Monday is treated as the holiday. It also stipulates that if there is only one day between two other holidays, then the middle day is a holiday too. June then is the only month with out a holiday.
The three big holidays in Japan are Oshogatsu in January, Golden Week in May and Obon in August. Oshogatsu is the New Year celebration which used to be celebrated using the Chinese calendar, but for about a 140 years now its been celebrated following the Gregorian calendar. Stores, shops and businesses frequently shut down for a few days. Special foods are prepared including mochi – the special sticky rice that is pounded into a mass. It is considered good luck to eat a piece of mochi for each year you have lived. (We will overlook the fact that nearly 400o people die each year in Japan by choking on mochi.) There is also the cheery practice of going to the local Buddhist temple on New Year’s eve and ringing the bell there at midnight 108 times to chase away the 108 bonno ro mortal desires. Apparently drinking vast amounts of saki is not one of the bonno.
Obon, like Oshogatsu, is a family centered, home coming, family reunion type holiday. Obon, also like Oshogatsu, is a Buddhist holiday to celebrate and honor the family’s ancestors. There is no precise date for obon, but can be celebrated anytime from late July to late August. While these two holidays are very important from a family standpoint, Golden Week is THE holiday everyone talks about and plans big trips during.
Golden Week, also called Oogata renkyuu, is a series of National Holidays that fall close together during the first week of May. Golden Week apparently took on foreign sounding nomenclature in the 1950′s when studios realized they could make a tone of money by having movies open during this week. Golden Week technically starts on April 29, which is now called Shoowa Day. Shoowa Day is a chance to reflect on, remember and honor Emperor Hirohito who was the Emporer before, during and after WWII. May 3rd, is Constitution Memorial day, marking the day in 1948 when Japan’s new constitution went into effect. May 4th is now called Green Day. Arboretums, zoos and botanical gardens will generally be open free to the public on this day. May 5th is Kodomonohi, children’s day. This used to be observed as Boy’s day (Girl’s day or hinamasturi, is still observed in March but is not a National Holiday). Many workers will take off the whole week covering these holidays. Any travel book on Japan will warn you to try and avoid traveling in Japan at that time as train tickets, plane tickets, hotel rooms and ryokan prices basically double during this period. This of course frequently results in half the population showing up at the same places at the same times during this week. So while its fun to get away, the real trick is finding a place to get away, or as Jimmy Buffet sings, “a far-off wonderland.”
You need a Holiday, (you need a holiday) take a Holiday (take aholiday).
Find a far-off wonderland where you might regain
Command of your life today.
Take a Holiday, (take a holiday) you need a Holiday (you need a holiday).
Grab a pack and hit the trail, take a sail
And wind up in some moonlit bay.
Jimmy Buffet
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