Golden Week

In Japan, around this time of year, four major national holidays fall within a seven-day period of time known as Golden Week. The entire week, if my research is correct, became in itself a holiday and break time.

I have to confess - whenever I type "Golden" I accidentally add an extra 'e' and inadvertently spell out "Goldeen," the pokemon.

Weekends permitting (Which they kind of aren't, this year), Golden week starts on April 29th with Showa day. April 29th was originally Emperor Showa's birthday, from December 25th, 1926, to his death in 1989. After his death, the holiday was changed to 'Greenery Day', a Japanese Earth Day, in honor of the previous emperor's love of nature. I'm not too familiar with Japanese politics, so I'm not sure how he was viewed as a person, though I know he was emperor during the second world war, and that he met with many foreign leaders, including the Queen and President Gerald Ford.

Greenery Day was then moved to May 4th sometime around 2005-2007 (I guess the law was passed in 2005, but didn't take affect until 2007). April 29th became Showa Day, a day of remembrance.

May 3rd has been Constitution Memorial Day since the Japanese Constitution was established in 1947. I'm not sure why it's "Constitution Memorial" and not just "Constitution" day (the 'memorial' makes it sounds like they're remembering an old constitution'), but perhaps that's just a nuance of the Japanese language.

Children's Day is celebrated by hanging Carp-shaped wind socks for each child.

 May 5th is Boys Day, or in recent years Children's Day. It's a very old holiday, going back to around 600 A.D., and traditionally meant to celebrate the family's boys and bless them with strength and courage and what-not. Girls Day, more often know as the Doll Festival, was celebrated March 3rd, on the other hand. In recent years, Boys Day has grown to include Girls as well, and is now a family Children's holiday.

Because the Japanese are smart and wise, any day that falls between two holidays is also declared a holiday. May 4th, in that case, right between Constitution Memorial Day and Children's Day, was also a vacation day. With the emperor's birthday just earlier in the week, the ingenious Japanese Board of People who Decide Things decided to make the whole week a celebration. Now May 4th is a real holiday, Greenery day, and there are four official holidays for Golden Week.

Golden Week, from what I understand, has always been a bit celebration, so I hope the Japanese people are still able to celebrate this year, even with the recent tragedies. Our hearts are with you!