Golden Week Starts Today

April 29th is Showa Day, the day that honors the birthday of the late Emperor Hirohito, who was the Japanese emperor during the Showa era. 

Constitution Memorial Day is May 3rd and celebrates the day the Constitution of Japan was enacted on May 3, 1947. 

May 4th is Greenery Day, which is a day to appreciate nature. 

Finally, May 5th is Children's Day, the day to celebrate and honor children's health and happiness. 

Golden Week is one of the longest holiday periods of the year in Japan. Since many people travel during this time, trains and highways, hotels and tourist sites, are all busy and crowded. Over the years that I have lived in Japan, I have stayed home some years and I have traveled other years. The older I get, the less comfortable I am in crowded places. This year, I plan to stay local. I might go for a hike, or visit a museum, or I might just stay home and stitch. 

If you had a week with no work or other responsibilities, what would you do?

Shunbun no Hi

 

Today is the national holiday, Spring Equinox Day or Shunbun no Hi, a day to commune with nature and to show our affection for all living things. Aren’t Japanese holidays great?

Emperor’s Birthday

Today is the Emperor Naruhito’s birthday and a national holiday in Japan. Because his birthday falls on a Sunday, the holiday is observed on Monday.

He became the Emperor on May 1, 2019, following his father’s abdication. He studied history at Gakushuin University and English at Merton College, Oxford. In June 1993, he married diplomat Masako Owada and they have one daughter, Aiko. 

Happy Birthday! I hope someone makes him a carrot cake.

National Holidays in Japan 2026

Japan normally has 16 national holidays in a year, but next year is special, with 17. Japan has a rule that when a working day falls between two holidays, the in between day becomes a holiday too! In 2026, this rule makes a bonus holiday in September, which is called Silver Week, the counterpart to Golden Week in the spring. This will be the third time ever for Silver Week, after 2009 and 2015. 

Below are the holidays for 2026.  When the normal holiday falls on Sunday, it is observed on Monday. Next year Constitutional Memorial day is observed on Wednesday because Monday and Tuesday are already other holidays. Isn’t Japan great?

Setsubun no Hi

Although not a national holiday, Setsubun is widely celebrated in Japan. Depending on the Japanese Lunar Calendar, Setsubun falls on February 2nd, 3rd, or 4th.  This year, it falls on the 2nd.  The name means the Eve of the Beginning of Spring. I lived in Hokkaido when I first heard about Setsubun, and I thought this was a crazy name for something at the beginning of February. See this post.

Typically, (especially in homes with children) someone dresses up like the oni (demon), or wears a paper mask like the one in the picture above. Others throw roasted beans at the demon, while chanting, Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! (Demons out! Good fortune in!) People also eat the number of beans that corresponds with the person’s age. This is not so difficult if you are ten years old, but when you are my age, well, that is a lot of beans.

Another tradition on Setsubun is to eat eho-maki, a long sushi roll with a variety of fillings. Some people make their own, but grocery and convenience stores sell them, if you are not inclined to make your own. For good luck, you need to eat the whole thing in silence, facing the direction of the year.  The lucky direction for 2025 is west-southwest.

Best of luck to you this year!

Coming of Age Day - Seijin no Hi 成人の日

Coming of Age Day is a national holiday in Japan, falling on the second Monday in January under the Happy Monday system. The purpose of the holiday is to celebrate all those who become adults between April 2nd of the previous year and April 1st of the current year. Local municipalities hold ceremonies, which are followed by parties to celebrate. Many of the new adults dress in formal kimonos or suits and travel back to their hometowns for ceremonies and celebrations.

 

Hatsuhinode 2025

Hatsuhinode means first sunrise and in Japan it is considered good luck to see the first sunrise of the year. 

I got up early on January 1st and walked to the beach near Kunozan. I  didn’t get cold walking because the walk was long. Once I got there, it was a spectacular show.

After witnessing this spectacular sunrise, I walked up the 1159 steps to Kunozan Shrine. It took 20 minutes to get to the top. Much of the walk is in the trees, but you can see the top and bottom in this picture.

I had several views of Mt. Fuji as I walked home.

I can’t think of a better way to bring in the new year!

2025 Year of the Snake

2025 is the year of the snake, the sixth symbol of the Japanese zodiac. People born in the year of the snake are said to be deep thinkers, great observers, and possessors of tremendous wisdom. They are also said to have the tendency to avoid conflict and are the jealous type. Snakes are most compatible with oxen and roosters, have a mutually beneficial relationship with monkeys, and are least compatible with boars.  Or that’s the legend.

Here are some Japanese snake sayings - 

竜頭蛇尾—Ryūtō dabi. “Dragon head, snake tail” describes something that initially appears wonderful or amazing, but ends disappointingly.
蛇に睨まれた蛙—Hebi ni niramareta kaeru. “A frog being stared at by a snake” refers to a state of being frozen in terror, similar to the phrase “a deer in the headlights” in English.
蛇に噛まれて朽縄におじる—Hebi ni kamarete kuchinawa ni ojiru. Making a mistake once may lead to excessive caution in future attempts, as seen in the expression “being bitten by a snake and fearing a rotted rope.” An English equivalent is “once bitten, twice shy.”
藪をつついて蛇を出す—Yabu o tsutsuite hebi o dasu. “Poking a bush and forcing out a snake” means to bring trouble on oneself through an unnecessary action. In current Japanese, it is often heard in the shortened form yabuhebi.
蛇足—Dasoku. In a contest to draw a snake quickly in ancient China, the first person to finish was so far ahead of the others that he added on some legs, and ended up losing. The phrase “snake legs,” derived from the story, now means something redundant, or a pointless side track in a conversation.

Happy New Year from Japan!

Labor Day Holiday

Today is a national holiday to honor the hard work of laborers and give thanks. Maybe be thankful to have a job? Labor day was previously a harvest festival. 

This year, the holiday falls on a Saturday, so it doesn’t feel like a holiday. People who don’t work on Saturday don’t even get a day off from work. I’m not complaining; there are 16 national holidays in Japan, with a day off from work, plus many special observance days that aren’t national holidays.

I like that the Emperor’s birthday is a holiday in Japan. I love birthdays!

Emperor Naruhito, with wife and daughter

Do you have a favorite holiday?

Shichi Go San

 

Shichi go san is the Japanese festival that celebrates children at the ages of seven, five, and three. It is celebrated every November, especially on November 15th. Because it is not a national holiday, families celebrate in November when their schedules allow, not only on the 15th. This celebration honors the growth and well being of 7 and 3 year old girls, and 5 and sometimes 3 year old boys. 

Shichi go san dates back to the Heian era (794-1185), when the aristocracy celebrated children's growth. Later, it spread to other social classes. In feudal times, high infant mortality made reaching the ages of seven, five, and three, significant milestones. 

In modern times, families celebrate by visiting the shrines in formal attire, and taking professional photographs. Some families purchase good luck amulets and write wishes on ema plaques. Afterwards, it is common to eat a meal at a restaurant or at home. It is also common to give chitose ame, also known as thousand year candy, to celebrate the growth of the child. This hard candy is thin and 15 inches long to represent the wish for a long, healthy life, and comes in red and white to symbolize joy and purity. The candy comes in a decorative bag with symbols of longevity, like cranes and turtles. 

Isn't this a wonderful way to celebrate children?

Culture Day

Today is the Japanese National Holiday, Culture Day. Because November 3rd falls on a Sunday this year, the holiday will be observed tomorrow, Monday. This holiday is held for the purpose of promoting culture, the arts, and academic endeavor. Typical festivities include art exhibitions, parades, and award ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars. 

I’ve created my own Japanese stitching culture exhibit in this post to show some techniques I’ve learned or tried since moving to Japan.  These are my own versions of these techniques.

Sashiko 

Sashiko is a combination of two Japanese words: sashi (to stitch or pierce) and ko (small). Sashiko is a stitching technique originally used to patch and reinforce the indigo blue fabric garments worn by Japanese fisherman. Now it is more of a decorative technique than for a utilitarian purpose. The stitch is a running, or quilting, type stitch with the top part of the stitch longer than the underneath part. The key to making it beautiful is a consistent stitch length.

Kogin 

Kogin is a traditional Japanese embroidery technique that hails from the great sashiko traditions of northern Japan, but unlike sashiko, is a counted thread technique. With running stitches in white cotton thread on dark indigo cloth, kogin is said to resemble snow scattered on the ground. It is stitched from side to side, counting over mostly uneven numbers of threads: one, three, five and, very occasionally, seven. Long stitches, avoided on the front of the cloth, may be present on the back, resulting in fabric almost three times its original thickness, trapping air for warmth.

Current project

Ainu stitching 

The Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido. According to Wikipedia, there were about 15,000 Ainu in Hokkaido in 1868. Because of intermarriage with the Japanese, there is no longer a pure Ainu ethnic group, but the official number of Ainu is estimated at 25,000 and the unofficial number at up to 200,000. In 2008, the Japanese government approved a resolution recognizing the Ainu people as "an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture”. Although there is an Ainu language, most Ainu now speak Japanese or Russian. The language is considered endangered, with fewer than 100 people still speaking the language. 

Boro

Boro refers to worn and useless textiles and old, torn, or patched clothes. Unlike today where people become affluent with goods, cotton textile was scarce for people 150 years ago. Especially it was not affordable for peasants living in rural coastal or mountain area, therefore, they applied traditional sticking technique called Sashiko onto linen clothes to retain warmth and to make it strong.  At that time people never wasted the clothes, instead, they recycled them over and over through generations. Boro is intimately entangled with the family history and memory and takes on indescribable beauty and power. 

Other

Have a great Culture Day, whatever you do!