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Lesson 14: Japanese Holidays

I hope it would be of interest to know about the japanese holidays which are quite different to ours.

The dates given below are for year 2006:

1st Jan New Years Day
15th Jan Coming of Age Day
11st Feb Foundation Day
29th Apr Green Day
3rd May Constitution Day
4th May National Day
5th May Children's Day
20th Jul Marine Day
15th Sep Respect for the Aged Day
10th Oct Physical Culture Day
3rd Nov Culture Day
23rd Nov Thanksgiving
23rd Dec The Emperors Birthday

Remarks

Constitution Day, National's Day and Children's day are three adjacent holidays always starting on a Wednesday which means within a range of 9 days, you have only 2 days of work. This is the japanese "Golden Week" mentioned in some anime (Hikaru no Go, Bottle Fairies.)

Japanese usually also celebrate Valentine's Day ('Barentainzu': Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo)... well at least some of them do but they do it different. On Valentines day the girls give (home made?) chocolate to their beloved.

Another christian holiday usually celebrated (without the religious background) is the christmas evening ('kurisumasu': To Heart, Sister Princess) but it never had the legal status of an official holiday.

If you know more about japanese holidays please feel free to contact Sakura-chan