Greenery Day or Star Wars Day

It is now “Golden Week” in Japan.

April 29th was “Showa Day”. It’s called that because it was the late Showa-era Emperor’s birthday, and celebrated as such until he died 26 years ago.

May 3rd (yesterday) was “Constitution Day”. The day Japan’s post-WWII constitution was adapted.

Today, May 4th is “Greenery Day”. The day to appreciate nature.

Originally after the Showa Emperor died,  April 29th was Greenery Day because that Emperor loved nature, and May 4th was “Residents Holiday”… but it was changed about twelve years ago.

Tomorrow, May 5th is “Children’s Day”.

This year, because today is a Sunday and therefore today’s holiday is kinda ‘lost’ since it’s already a day off for most people… Tuesday, May 6th is also a day off. It’s “Greenery Day observed”.

Collectively, this holiday period is known as “Golden Week”.

Also, the new upcoming Star Wars movie (Episode VII), with the most famous faces from the first three Star Wars movies returning in their 60s or 70s will be in theaters in Japan and other countries in December 2015.

It seems that Star Wars fans around the world call May 4th (today) “Star Wars Day” because the date, May the Fourth, sounds like the well-known quote from Star Wars, “May The Force (Be With You)”.

Fellow KISS fan here in Japan, “Naokiss “, found an ad in today’s newspaper for the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII that explained that today is 「スターウォーズの日」(Star Wars Day):

 

子どもの日

Yesterday was 「子供の日」 (“Children’s Day“) in Japan. The final day of “Golden Week“.
Today most everyone in Japan went back to work or school.

Yesterday, we went to the 「藤まつり」 (“Wisteria flower Festival”) at 「亀戸天神社」 (“Kameido Ten-Jinja Shrine”).

Sign says 「亀戸天神　藤まつり」 ("Kameido Tenjin" Shrine "Wisteria Festival")

藤 (Wisteria flowers)

The "Tokyo Sky Tree" can be seen from this shrine.

"Tokyo Sky Tree" (under construction)

Festivals in Japan have booth selling foods, drinks, etc

It was "Golden Week", so it was quite crowded.

(Click here to see a post I wrote that has a picture of a 浮世絵 (traditional Japanese woodblock print) of this shrine, and how it hasn’t changed much since).

From there, we went to 「亀戸香取神社」 (“Kameido Katori Jinja Shrine“) which honors, among other things, 「亀戸大根」 (the “Kameido Daikon” giant Japanese radish).
This radish grew in the Kameido area of Tokyo even during times of drought. So this shrine lets people “thank” the Kameido Daikon for helping to keep the people of Japan from going hungry during hard times.

This sign says "Kameido Daikon". And "Kameido" is written with the characters resembling a turtle (for the town's name means "turtle door") and a Daikon radish.

There were 八重桜 ("Leafy Sakura") in bloom.

「亀戸大根」 ("Kameido Daikon")

Wash 恵比寿様 (Ebisu-sama) and they'll ensure your good health and fortune.

潮干狩り

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is now the “Golden Week” holidays in Japan.

It is popular during this week for people to go on trips. Many people who live in Tokyo are going to other parts of Japan or overseas and many Japanese who live in other parts of Japan are in Tokyo now to see the big city.

Today in particular is the holiday 「健保記念日」 (“Constitution Day“). (Click here to read my FAQ about it).

The weather has been warm and sunny since Golden Week started and it’s forecast to continue with the beautiful weather for the entire Golden Week holidays.

The TV news said today that this is the first time in twenty-five years that it hasn’t rained at least one day of Golden Week!

At this time of year, 「潮干狩り」 (“Clam digging”) is popular in Japan.
Many people, especially retired people and families, buy “Clam digging sets” (which include a net bag to hold the clams, a bucket, a small shovel and a gardening fork) and go to the shore and hunt for clams.

The popular places get quite crowded…especially in the Tokyo area and especially during the holidays.

Well, we made plans to go 「潮干狩り」 (clam digging) yesterday. We bought the supplies for the five of us to hunt for clams and we woke up early yesterday and headed to one of the most popular clam digging spots in the Tokyo Bay.

It was extremely crowded but we live in Tokyo so we’re all used to the crowds. It doesn’t faze us.
And besides, my daughters are growing up…I enjoy spending as much time with them as possible before they have their own families.

Also, yesterday was my youngest daughter’s fourteenth birthday. I can’t believe the “baby” of my family is already 14!
So, after our fun day of clam digging (we took home almost 2kg of clams!), my youngest daughter requested to go to a カラオケボックス (“Karaoke box”)…which are private rooms to sing karaoke where only your group can hear you sing…so that’s what we did.

Then we went home and my wife and daughters made spaghetti with clams (that we caught) for my daughter’s “birthday dinner”.

It was a great day!

Here are a couple photos I took during our clam digging. Every other photo I took was of my family digging clams but I don’t put photos of my family online…so I’m only posting these two pictures.
But you can see how crowded it was.

Scream

From today until May 5th is Golden Week in Japan.

On the days that my kids don’t have basketball practice or guitar lessons etc, we’re gonna go to the zoo and the movies (to see 「カールじいさんの空飛ぶ家」 (“Up“)) and things like that.

Anyways, on a different note, I heard that Ozzy Osbourne‘s new album will be released this summer.
The title will be “Scream“. It was originally set to be titled “Soul Sucker“, but many Ozzy fans complained about that title…so it was changed.

I’m glad that Ozzy has decided to use his “original” logo for his name. He changed his logos for his album covers since the ’90s…but I think this original one from the ’80s is the best.

The album’s song track list is:

“Let It Die”
“Let Me Hear You Scream”
“Soul Sucker”
“Life Won’t Wait”
“Diggin’ Me Down”
“Crucify”
“Fearless”
“Time”
“I Want It More”
“Latimer’s Mercy”
“I Love You All”

Spring customs

I don’t remember most of the lesser known American holidays, so correct me if I’m wrong.
But, as I remember, in America there are some spring customs but no legal holidays.

First, February 2 is “Groundhog Day” in America.
A groundhog is a type of マーモット…

A groundhog.

Not to be confused with 「モルモット」, which means “guinea pig” in Japanese.

A guinea pig.

In America, on Groundhog Day people watch a groundhog to see if he leaves his burrow or not.
If he does, that’s supposed to mean that spring will start soon…if he returns to his burrow after sticking his head out, that means the cold winter weather will continue longer.

At least that’s how I remember it. It’s an odd custom.

April 1st is called “April Fool’s Day“.

On this day in America, people play practical jokes on each other…if someone falls for one of these practical jokes, then he’s labeled a “fool” for the day–the “April Fool“.

Also Easter, I believe, is on the first Sunday of April.
This is a religious Christian holiday.
Many people in America, Canada (and maybe some European countries too) paint Easter eggs and “the Easter Bunny” gives baskets of chocolate to children.

School students get a week or so “Spring Break” holiday from school…but it’s not the end of the school year yet (as it is in Japan). Summer Break is the end of the U.S. school year.

In Japan spring is different.
Here, the school year ends in March and begins after spring in April.
Students in Japan who will be starting high school or college must take Entrance Exams. (My second daughter passed her Entrance Exam and will be starting high school next month).

At almost the same time as Groundhog Day in the U.S., Japan has Setsubun on February 2nd every year.

In March, Japan has Doll Festival on March 3rd, and White Day on March 14th (tomorrow). But those aren’t legal holidays (I mean, they’re not days off).
But around March 20th is 「春分の日」 (Spring Equinox) is a legal holiday. This year, Spring Equinox is Sunday, March 21st…so it’ll will be observed the next day—Monday, March 22nd will be a day off.
Many people visit their family grave on this day.

A big holiday season in Japan occurs in spring. It’s called “Golden Week“.
Golden Week is technically May 3rd – May 5th (「憲法記念日」 (Constitution Day), 「緑の日」 (Greenery Day), and 「子供の日」 (Children’s Day) respectively)…but often 「昭和の日」 (Showa Day), which is on April 29th, is included.
So, some people get Golden Week holiday from April 29th – May 5th.

And, of course, a very important springtime custom in Japan is 「花見」 (Cherry-Blossom Viewing).

End of GW

This year 憲法記念日 (Constitution Day) was on a Sunday, so it’s observed today.
So today is the last day of 黄金週間 (Golden Week).*

(* GW is a common written abbreviation for Golden Week in Japan. Thus the title of this post.)†

Tomorrow most everyone goes back to school or work.

Many people take a trip either overseas or domestically during Golden Week in Japan. So airports, train stations, and highways are crowded at this time.
At the beginning of the holidays, 下り (away from Tokyo) trains and highways are crowded…and at the end of the holidays, 上り (to Tokyo) is crowded.

Yesterday at about 2:00PM on a highway from 仙台 (Sendai, Japan) heading back to Tokyo there was a head-on collision between a passenger car and a mini-van.
Four people were injured and three elderly people died.

The accident caused the highway to be closed for a few hours, resulting in a huge traffic jam.

++++

This Friday (8 May 2009), my oldest daughter’s high school class will take a field trip north of Tokyo to the countryside.
They’re going to make 「うどん」 (thick Japanese noodles), have a バーべキュー (BBQ), and go ライン下り (white-water rafting in a Japanese-style boat)!

I’ve been white-water rafting in the countryside in Japan with friends before…but I’ve never gone on such great field trips when I was a student in America that my kids do with their schools!
The biggest school field trip I ever took as a kid was from one side of Florida to the other for a trip to NASA Space Station…it was interesting, but not as fun as the places my kids have gone over the years.

What types of school field trips have you gone on as a student in your country?

++++

† As I wrote above, GW is a (written) abbreviation for Golden Week in Japan. But there are many other abbreviations in Japan. For example, if you are in Japan, have you ever noticed “W” written on an ad. “W” is a Japanese abbreviation for “double“.

You might have seen, for example, “W (double) point-card points” or “Kirin W (double) Tanrei beer” (I show a photo of this beer in another post (Click here)).

入場無料

今日は緑の日 (Today is Greenery Day).

Many 動物園 (zoos) and 水族館 (aquariums) in Japan were open to the public today with 入場無料 (free admission). This happens three days year…you can go in these places for free on 緑の日 (Greenery Day), the anniversary of day that the zoo / aquarium first opened, and Citizen’s Day.
For example, 上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) in Tokyo has free admission on March 20 (開園記念日 (the anniversary of the day that the zoo first opened)), May 4 (緑の日 (Greenery Day)), and October 1 (都民の日 (Tokyo Citizen’s Day))…(Click here to see my 1 October 2009 post about the zoo.)

(BTW, 上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) always offers free admission to children who are junior-high-school aged or younger (and who go to a school in Tokyo), and also to the disabled and one assistant.)

We decided to go to 上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) today.
As it always is when the admission is free…it was very crowded there today!

I took a number of photos…but due to the crowds, it was difficult to get good photos. So many of my photos (including my photo of the gorillas, flamingos, and the new baby rhino didn’t turn out well).

But here are some of my photos:

鯉のぼり (Carp Streamers); a Japanese 「子供の日」 ("Children's Day") (May 5) decoration.

ありくい (Aardvark)

ハリネズミ (Porcupine)

Baby Rhino

黄金週間 (Golden Week) has begun today.
And today is also my youngest daughter’s birthday. She’s thirteen now!
So now I officially have three teenage daughters! 😉

Yesterday, 上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) in Tokyo showed their new 白サイ (White Rhino) baby to the public for the first time.

The new baby White Rhino at Ueno Zoo.

The 白サイの赤ちゃん (baby White Rhino) was born in the zoo on Monday, 20 April 2009 at ２０時半 (8:30 PM).

Here’s a short clip that shows the baby rhino’s birth, first steps, and nursing for the first time:

The サイ (rhinoceros) has always been my favorite zoo animal. They look like living dinosaurs!

東京ディズニーランドの写真

Last weekend, my daughters went to 東京ディズニーランド (Tokyo Disneyland) together. They took their young six-year-old cousin with them.

While the four of them were at the amusement park, my wife and I went to IKEA (I wrote about that last week. Click here to read it.)

Here are some of the photos that my daughters took (I’m not posting any of the photographs that have my kids or niece in them):

The Tokyo Disney Resort bus

"Daisy Duck"

"Pooh-san"

A statue of Walt Disney and Mickey with Cinderella's Castle in the background.

"Buzz Lightyear"

++++++++++

I’m sure you’ve heard in the news about the recent outbreak of a new epidemic in Mexico that has spread to America.
It’s a 豚インフルエンザ (Swine (Pig) Flu)!

First, there was “Mad Cow“, then the “Bird Flu“…and now it’s pigs. Will fish be next?

Japan did a pretty good job of keeping the mad cow and bird flu out of this country. Hoping this new swine flu won’t spread here either!

++++++++++

Anyways, “Golden Week” has officially started today. Students still have school and most people still have to work until Thursday…but some people get to begin their holidays today.
As with most people though, my family all have our Golden Week holidays from next Saturday (May 2) until Wednesday (April 6)…plus this Wednesday (April 29) is off too (But, Thursday (April 30) and Friday (May 1) are work days).

Wednesday, April 29 is 昭和の日 (Showa Day). (It used to be 緑の日 (Greenery Day)).
Sunday, May 3 is 憲法記念日 (Constitution Day).
Monday, May 4 is now 緑の日 (Greenery Day). (It used to be 国民記念日 (Residents Day).
And Tuesday, May 5 is 子供の日 (Children’s Day).

Because 憲法記念日 (Constitution Day) is on a Sunday this year, it’s observed on Tuesday, May 6.
So most people’s Golden Week is from Saturday May 2 – Tuesday May 6.

Click here to read my FAQ about the Golden Week holidays.

Also, this year (2009) in Japan, there will be a second Golden Week in September!
This is because 敬老の日 (Respect For The Aged Day) is on the third Monday of September…and 秋分の日 (Autumn Equinox) is on September 23.

This year, the third Monday of September will be on September 21. So since September 21 and 23 will be off…the government made September 22 between them a day-off too.
So, many people will have Saturday, September 19 until Wednesday, September 23 off…a second Golden Week.

Golden Week

Right now, it’s “Golden Week” in Japan.

黄金週間　(usually referred to by the English name “Golden Week” or simply “G.W.”) is May 3 (健保記念日 (“Constitution Day”)), May 4 (緑の日 (“Greenery Day”)), and May 5 (こどもの日 (“Children’s Day”))…but just before these holidays is 昭和の日 (“Showa Day”) on April 29, so some companies give their employees the week of April 29 until May 5 off for Golden Week.

By the way, until 2006, Greenery Day was on April 29 and May 4th was called 国民の記念日 (Residents’ Day).

(If you want to read a bit more about Japan’s holidays, click here to see my summary of Japanese holidays on my FAQ page.)

This year May 4 is on a Sunday so Greenery Day is observed on Tuesday, May 6. So this year’s Golden Week is from Saturday, May 3 til Tuesday, May 6…a four day weekend.

So today’s the last day of Golden Week…tomorrow we go back to work (or school, in the kids’ case), so we’re just relaxing at home today.

Yesterday, though, we went to 原宿 (Harajuku). We knew it’d be especially crowded during the holidays…but Harajuku is where all the teenagers hang out and shop, and many stores were having sales for Golden Week so my kids wanted to go there.

Here’s a couple pictures of the famous 竹下通り (Takeshita Street)…it’s always crowded there, but it was unreal yesterday:

From there, we walked to 表参道通り (Omotesando-doori), which is like the Rodeo Drive of Japan with all the luxury brand stores. We went to the giant “Kiddy Land” toy store.

Then we got dinner and went home.