Celebrating Showa Day
Today is Showa Day in Japan. It is a national holiday to commorate the previous Emporer’s birthday just before the Golden Week holiday period. Before 2007, Showa Day was called Greenery Day. Before it was called Greenery Day, it was celebrated as The Emperor’s Birthday. And before 1985, it was not considered a national holiday, but it is now even though the name of the holiday has been changed several times over the past decade. When the holiday was known as The...
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Prepare for Some Major Traffic!
This Golden Week will be like no other this year. Why? Because the Japanese government has lowered the fees for toll roads to 1000 yen for 2 years! Everyone and their mother will be on the roads this Golden Week and most won’t be traveling the side roads to avoid high toll fees like many have in the past, including myself. If anyone chooses to use the side roads to get long distances, it won’t be because of prices but will be because of the most likely high number of cars that WILL...
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Kigensetsu Japan National Foundation Day
National Foundation Day is a national holiday celebrated annually on February 11th in Japan. The day commemorates the founding of the nation and the first emperor, Jimmu, a controversial issue considering Amaterasu, the Meiji Emperor, declared himself the one, true ruler of Japan. However, historians have yet to find evidence of either the significance of celebrating the holiday on this date or the existence of Emperor Jimmu outside of the Nihonshoki. Originally, the holiday was named Empire...
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Preparing Wisely for Golden Week Holidays
Golden Week is one of the busiest times of the year in Japan, especially in the Kansai area. Most people in the Kansai area travel outside the region back to their hometowns or abroad. Those who choose to go somewhere nearby often go camping or to an onsen, sometimes both. The roads during Golden Week are more crowded than anyother time of the year. Someone once told me it took 12 hours to drive from Osaka to Okayama because of the traffic that jams up at the bottleneck just outside Osaka...
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