Saturday, July 25, 2020

The Holiday Weekend


In Japan, we have a four day holiday weekend.  This was supposed to be the opening weekend of the 2020 Olympics.  Two national holidays were moved to Thursday and Friday to ease the congestion in Tokyo for the opening of the Olympics.  Sea Day was moved from earlier in July to July 23rd, and Sports Day was moved from October to July 24th. 


While no one knows what will happen in the next 12 months, officially, the Olympics were postponed to the same time next summer.  This includes the moving of national holidays. 


Because there are no overseas tourists coming to Japan now, the Japanese government came up with a plan to get people living here now to travel within the country.  The travel plan is called "Go To" travel campaign and it kicked off on Wednesday, just before the holiday weekend. (There are rebates and vouchers and it looks very complicated to take part, actually.) I'm not sure when it ends. 


The problem is, the number of people testing positive in Japan and especially Tokyo has been rising the last two weeks or so. On Tuesday (the day before the travel campaign started), Tokyo was excluded from the program. Don't go to Tokyo and people in Tokyo, don't go anywhere else.  I know, I know, what a mess. 


My weekend plan all along has been to stay at home, stitch, clean a little, maybe read.  My plans aren't changing. As much as I love to travel, I'm more than okay with staying at home over this long weekend and however long it takes.  


I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for next year at this time though.




5 comments:

kiwikid said...

Staying home just seems the best option doesn't it.

Queeniepatch said...

Not being able to go away is a good excuse for doing things at home, like cleaning or sorting out stuff. We stitchers have no problem in spending a long weekend at home, I would think!

Jeanie said...

You're right -- what a mess. I am with you -- I adore travel nand I miss it like crazy -- and I'm perfectly content to stay put.

Leonore Winterer said...

Our traveling is pretty much on hold for the year as well. I can see how it's a hard hit for the tourism industry, though.

FlashinScissors said...

What a mess! I’d stay home too!
I’m happy to stay home, I’d love to do some stitching, but hubbie wants to be out and about!
Stay safe!
Hugs,
Barbara xx