Golden Week

In America we have plenty of National Holidays. Days like President's Day, Veteran's Day and Memorial Day; days where most jobs give their employees a free day off. As a result, most of these holidays are made to fall on a Monday or on a Friday, giving the public a three-day weekend.

Well, they have many National Holidays in Japan, so many in fact, that in late April workers get a whole week off! They call this week, Golden Week.

Golden Week begins on April 29th, Showa Day. It is the birthday of Emperor Hirohito, the previous Japanese Emperor. May 3rd is Constitution Memorial Day, that commemorates the Japanese Constitution which was drafted on May 3, 1947. May 4th is Greenery Day. Greenery Day was originally celebrated on April 29th after the death of Hirohito because of his love of plants, but in 2007 April 29th officially became Showa Day (Hirohito's official name was Emperor Showa) and Greenery Day was moved to May 4th. May 5th is Children's Day (more specifically called Boy's Day since there already is an official Girl's Day).

Since so many holidays fall so close together, Japan decided to give its citizens the whole week off making this a great time for people to go on vacation and travel. There is also a law in Japan that any day that falls between two holidays must also be considered a holiday!

It would be like making the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday a holiday in its own right, even though the point is moot since most people have off on Saturdays anyway, but you get the idea.