ハッピー・マンデー制度

Today is 「海の日」 (Sea Day) in Japan.

This is a holiday to remember the sea and all that it provides.
(Click here to read the post I wrote at last year’s 「海の日」 (Sea Day).)

Today is Monday and it’s a national holiday in Japan therefore Japan has a three-day weekend now. 「海の日」 (Sea Day) is always on a Monday, so it’s always a three-day weekend.

But it wasn’t always like this.

Actually when I first came to Japan, there was no 「海の日」 (Sea Day) holiday. There were no holidays in Japan during July at all.

This holiday started a few years after I came here. And it was always on the 20th of July.

Then about six or seven years ago, the Japanese government decided to start what is called the 「ハッピー・マンデー制度」 (“Happy Monday System“) in Japan.

Under this system, all national holidays that don’t fall on a date that can’t be changed (such as the Emperor’s Birthday, New Year’s, etc) now fall on the closest Monday.

So now 「海の日」 (Sea Day) is on the third Monday of July rather than July 20.

There are a few other holidays on the 「ハッピー・マンデー制度」 (“Happy Monday System“) as well.
These are 「成人の日」 (“Adults Day”) in January, 「敬老の日」 (“Respect For The Aged Day”), and 「体育の日」 (“Sports Day”).

Does your country have a system for holidays on a Monday to make three-day-weekends?

敬老の日

Today is 敬老の日 (Respect For The Aged Day).
(I wrote a short FAQ about it here).

My kids bought a small gift for their 94-year old great-grandmother. They took it to her house and paid her a visit.

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Yesterday we went to 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo).
As we were leaving 上野駅 (Ueno Train Station), we passed the Hard Rock Cafe, Ueno Stn Tokyo. We didn’t go in, but I noticed this poster outside the cafe:

I like the American rock band Mötley Crüe, and I know that they’re coming to this year’s Loudpark Heavy Metal Festival in October (see my “Festivals In Tokyo” page)…but according to this poster, they’ll be playing dates in Japan after the festival, too.

From there, we went to the big 「やましろや」 (Yamashiroya Toy Store), and then we went to a lake that has rental boats.

We rented a boats for our daughters and they had fun paddling around the lake for a half-hour.

Here are a couple of videos of the boats on the lake (none of the videos of my kids are online):

After that, we saw some people feeding the 亀 (turtles) and 鯉 (carp).
It was crazy. They started swarming to get the bread:

A nearby shrine:

At shrines in Japan, you can buy your fortune. After you read it, you tie it to one of these:

You can also buy an 絵馬…which is a wooden board that you write your wish on and then tie it near the shrine so your wish may come true.
Here are some people’s 絵馬 with their wishes written on them:

The shrine was setting up in the evening for the 祭 (festival) the next day (today):

My wife and daughters folded bamboo leaves into boats:

We stopped at an Okinawan store in Ueno to buy some Okinawan food. I really like Okinawan food.

This シーサー (Shiisaa) was outside the store. They are Okinawan mythological guardians (usually found in pairs):

And here’s an intersection in Ueno at night: