Dear Listeners, Golden Week has started! In Japan, almost everyone gets the week off from work - even us! As a student of Japanese, you should enjoy Golden Week too! We can’t give you days off of work or school, but we can offer you an Instant 28% OFF 1-year Premium subscription at JapanesePod101.com. Click here to get it now! So what is Golden Week exactly? At the end of April/beginning of May, 4 national holidays fall within the workweek. This gives everyone a super long weekend. In Japan, Golden Week is synonymous with travel - both domestic and international. The Shinkansen trains are super crowded and hotel reservations are impossible to find. To learn more about Golden Week, listen to these Golden Week... Show more

Many of our readers are probably familiar with Valentine’s Day, and even celebrate it in their home country. Valentine’s Day probably conjures up images of hearts, red roses, Valentine candy, and maybe even the cute little Valentine’s Day cards you used to exchange in elementary school.  But do you know how Valentine’s Day works in Japan? The Japanese Valentine’s Day has its own set of unique customs and rules that set it apart from the holiday celebrated around the world.  First of all, while in western countries it is common for both men and women to give gifts on Valentine’s Day, in Japan, the gift-giving is left strictly to the women. Girls and women give chocolate (either handmade or store-bought) to a significant other or someone... Show more

In Japan, November 23rd is a National Holiday called 勤労感謝の日(Kinrou kansha no hi) which means Labor Thanksgiving Day.  This holiday was originally a national festival called "Niinamesai" meaning "Harvest Festival." At the festival, the emperor dedicated the year's harvest to the Shinto Gods and ate it to celebrate the harvest of that year. This holiday is similar to Thanksgiving Day in the United States in both the timing and concept.  But, considering that this holiday is held to give thanks to people's hard work in addition to the harvest, it is also similar to "Labor Day" in the US.  Both of these holidays are very similar in that they give us a good opportunity to express our thanks to one another. There isn't a special meal that... Show more

The second Monday in October is a national holiday called "Health and Sports Day", which is known as "Taiiku no hi" (体育の日) in Japanese. It falls on October 12th this year. The first Health and Sports Day was held on October 10, 1966, two years after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, to commemorate the Olympics which started on October 10 of that year. This holiday was held on October 10 until 1999, and in 2000, it was moved to the second Monday in October as part of the Happy Monday system. (Because of this sytem, some National holidays were moved to Monday to make three-day weekends.) This holiday is a day to promote sports and physical and mental health. Some sports facilities discount or drop their fees, and many schools hold their sports... Show more

A string of consecutive holidays in autumn is called Silver Week in Japan, as opposed to Golden Week, which is a period that includes several Japanese holidays from the end of April to the beginning of May. The National Holidays in that take place during Silver Week are "Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day" which is the third Monday of September and "Autumnal Equinox Day" which is September 23. This year, the third Monday of September falls on September 21. September 22 was made a public holiday in 2009 so that people could have 5 consecutive holidays from September 19 through 23. However, this consecutive string of holidays will not occur again until 2015, because the "Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day" is not a fixed date, but the third... Show more

On the third Monday of July each year, the Japanese celebrate what is known as Marine Day ("Umi no hi"). This is a relatively new national holiday to celebrate the honor of the ocean and wish for the prosperity of Japan as an ocean country. In the past, the sea has played a very significant part of Japan's economy.  Marine Day was originally designated in 1941 as the anniversary of the day when Emperor Meiji returned in 1876 from his boat trip to Hokkaido after an inspection. When it was became a national holiday in 1996, Marine Day fell on July 20, but it has since been moved to the third Monday in July to create three-day-weekend, which is part of a movement called the "Happy Monday System" where a handful of designated holidays... Show more