{"id":3589,"date":"2020-06-09T14:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T05:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vhbloglive.wpengine.com\/?p=3589"},"modified":"2020-06-09T14:09:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T05:09:01","slug":"japanese-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/japanese-apartment-life\/japanese-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every country has\nits own holidays and celebrations, and Japan is no different. Check out our\narticle about popular Japanese holidays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every country has\nits own holidays and celebrations and Japan is no different. The country has a\nlong history and still celebrates moments that hold special social and cultural\nsignificance. Celebrations are usually large affairs accompanied by spectacles\nand events. But some are held as days of remembrance and are meant to be\ncelebrated at home or as a simple day off. In this article, we will take a look\nat a few of the top holidays in Japan and how they are celebrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Golden Week<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the\nbiggest holiday of the Japanese year and consists of four holidays in\nconsecutive order. The holidays are Showa Day, Constitutional Memorial Day,\nGreenery Day, and Children’s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showa Day – A\nholiday that honors the memory of Emperor Showa. It is meant to be a day of\nremembrance Hirohito’s reign and the day that leaders of WWII Japan were\ncondemned. It is held on April 29th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Constitutional\nMemorial Day – The holiday is on May 3rd and is celebrated every year as part\nof Golden Week. It celebrates when Japan completed, and enacted, its new\nconstitution in 1947. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenery Day – As\nthe name implies, it is meant as a day to observe and enjoy nature. It was\nmeant to be a holiday that celebrated Hirohito from the war times, but they\ndidn’t want to reference his name directly. It is instead named for his love of\nflowers and nature. This holiday is on May 4th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children’s Day –\nIt is on May 5th and is the last holiday of Golden Week. It is a day that is\nset aside to appreciate children’s personalities and happiness. The common\ntradition is to hang koinobori, which are windsocks that are made to look like carp.\nThe string them up on flag poles and each fish is meant to represent a member\nof the family. The largest represents the father, next is the mother, and then\nthe children in order from oldest to youngest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

New Year\u2019s<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is Japan’s\nbiggest holiday of the year. It is seen as a way to cleanse yourself of all of\nthe negative energy and bad things that happened in the previous year and start\nanew. The temples are flooded with people trying to get their fortunes told and\nto get their last prayers of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are foods\nand celebrations held all over Japan on New Year’s Eve. There are special\ndishes that you are supposed to eat for good luck, long life, and other\nqualities of life. These foods are referred to as osechi, and they are all\ndelicious to have on and before the new year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The culmination\nof New Year’s Eve is the ringing of the bells at the temple to ring in the new\nyear. After that, it is customary for people to stay up and watch the first\nsunrise of the year together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Coming of Age Ceremony<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This ceremony is\nmeant to celebrate children becoming adults in Japan. Every person turning 20\nyears old will have a coronation ceremony that has the women dressing in\nspecial kimono and the men also wearing kimono or suits. It is held on the\nsecond Monday in January, and there are parties for everyone involved. Don’t be\nsurprised if your local restaurants become filled with people celebrating\nbecoming adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Emperor\u2019s Birthday<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This holiday\nchanges with each new emperor. On this day, the imperial palace is open to the\npublic and the emperor greets the people. There are no large festivities and it\nis seen as a nice day off for the working class. It is a televised event that\nmost people will take time to observe during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Vernal Equinox Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This holiday\ncelebrates the changing of the seasons as the days become longer. It has a\nseven-day celebration called Shunbun no Hi, and it changes every year due to\nastronomical changes. It is meant to celebrate the return of spring after\nwinter. Most people use this time to have family gatherings, visit the graves\nof loved ones, and leave offerings at gravesites and shrines. Farmers use this\ntime to pray for a good harvest and healthy stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mountain Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This holiday is\nheld every August 11th and is meant to give people the chance to enjoy the\nnatural wonder of the mountains in Japan. It viewed as a nice day off for\npeople to enjoy nature and the mountains\u2019 blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

These were only a\nfew holidays that are celebrated in Japan today. There are many other holidays\nto see, and they all have their own special significance and associated\ntraditions. You can also find many special holidays in some towns and areas\nthat are not as well known. It is a wonderful way to learn about Japan’s\nhistory.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every country has its own holidays and celebrations, and Japan is no different. Check out our article about popular Japanese holidays. Every country has its own holidays and celebrations and Japan is no different. The country has a long history and still celebrates moments that hold special social and cultural significance. Celebrations are usually large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese-apartment-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}