Japan  2016

Monday, May 9

It's a back to work day in Tokyo after a week off - "Golden Week."  Golden Week  refers to a rare accumulation of Japanese national holidays.  While students get a lot of school vacation, the working population in Japan usually doesn’t.  But Golden Week is golden because it’s the longest vacation period of the year for most Japanese employees.  Japan has the most holidays of any country with a total of 16 national holidays each year. Golden Week is a series of four national holidays in spring. They're on non-consecutive days but many people take off the gap days. Depending on the year, some of the gap days may fall on weekends. Many Japanese companies give the gap days as company holidays. In such cases, the company may completely shutdown for the week. 

Many Japanese people can't name the holidays of Golden Week. The Japanese government often redefines national holidays — leaving people confused. Currently, the holidays are defined as follows:  Showa Day, April 29 - The birthday of Emperor Showa who was a controversial figure due to his role in WWII. Most people don't celebrate this but are happy it's a day off.  Constitution Day, May 3rd - The anniversary of Japan's new post war constitution that was put into effect on May 3rd, 1947. Greenery Day, May 4 - A vaguely defined holiday dedicated to nature. Children's Day, May 5 - Children's Day is the only day of Golden Week that's a traditional holiday that's widely celebrated. The day was celebrated for more than 1000 years as the Boy's Festival or Tango no Sekku. The government changed the name to Children's Day when they made it a holiday because Girls Day isn't a holiday. The rituals and celebrations of Children's Day are related to samurai traditions that prepared boys for their role as samurai. Boys throughout Japan put out ceremonial samurai helmets in their homes in the days leading up to the holiday. Another decoration associated with Children's Day are carp-shaped wind socks known as koinbori. These are related to a legend about a carp that swam upstream to become a dragon. The vigorous movement of koinbori in the wind represents a healthy and happy childhood. Millions of koinbori are put up all over the country for Golden Week. 

When we were shopping in Tokyo I saw lots of the carp-shaped wind socks and I intended to buy one for Noah, but I thought that I'd get it later in the trip and not have to take it with me the whole time.  Later, a fellow traveler and I both looked and looked for them in Kanagawa and Kyoto and couldn't find one.  We were told that that was because the holiday was over.  We had no idea that they were used during a particular holiday.

The Japanese also have days off for the Emperor's birthday and other special days. 

The average apartment/condo in Tokyo is 700 sq ft.

After breakfast in the hotel, we boarded a bus for the trip to Hakone, located about 50 miles west of Tokyo. As we drove, we saw mountains, rice paddies and small streams.  Akiko also gave us a lesson in practical Japanese, but I didn't retain a single word she had us repeat.  Later I did learn arigato (thank you), which Americans there probably overuse.  

As we drove toward Mt Fuji, the skies became more and more overcast with the visibility extremely low.  Mt Fuji is divided into ten stations, and we ascending halfway up to the 5th Station, hoping to get above the clouds.  But we were never able to see the mountain through all the fog. 

We continued on to our Hakone hotel, checking in in the late afternoon.  The rooms were equipped with futons.  During the day, the futons were stored in a closet in the room.  While we were at dinner, someone came in and set up the futons on the floor.

The hotel also had a Japanese onsen (hot spring) both indoors and out, which many of our fellow travelers tried before dinner.  Dinner was a Japanese banquet-style dinner in the hotel.  The food was great!  There were kimonos in the room closets and most of us wore a kimono to dinner.