Golden Week is the nickname for a set of 4 holidays within a 1-week span in Japan. It starts with 昭和の日 (Showa-no-hi: Showa Day) which is a celebration of the birthday of the former Emperor Showa on April 29th which was a Wednesday this year. The Thursday and Friday, while not holidays were either simply days that businesses closed or many people took their “holiday” days (vacation). Sunday May 3 was Kenpo kinenbi, Constitution Day in English, commemorating the day in 1947 that the new postwar constitution was put into place. Because it fell on a Sunday, it was “celebrated” by businesses being closed on Wednesday. Then comes May 4th (may the forth be with you, I digress) which in Japan is known as みどりの日 (midori-no-hi: Green Day). The green stands for nature but I don’t personally know anyone that actually does anything to celebrate nature on this day. And lastly is 子供の日 (kodomo-no-hi: Children’s day) on May 5th when families make 鯉のぼり (koinobori: carp streamers) and hang them out for good luck.
So when my mentor told me I could take two holiday days that Thursday and Friday and have a whole 8 days off work, I signed up for those holidays ASAP and started looking for a flight to Singapore! Because Singapore was just a holiday, you will have to ask me about all the crazy things I did there some other time. I will say that while I only spent two days there, it was quite an awesome experience and I can’t wait to return and visit with friends again.
Here are a few photos though to put up with all that holiday explanation above!
And that is how I spent my Golden Week. It was quite fun and as usual with holidays, I really didn’t want to go back to work when I was done!
That’s all for now folks! Until next time!
またね