|
Year 2001 - Heisei 13 |
| Holidays in: 2002
this year |
|
| January | - Jan 1 (Monday) New Years's Day Gantan
(always on Jan 1) Most companies close from December 29 through January 3. This is a time when millions of Japanese return home for family reunions, hundreds of thousands take trips overseas. This is one of the two major holiday seasons of the year. During most of December business seems to focus onbonenkai (year ending parties) and then in early January on shinnenkai (year starting parties). Count on the period from December 15 through January 15 as a time when you may not be able to do much business here. |
| - Jan 8 (Monday) Coming of Age Day Seijin no Hi (always
on second Monday) This is the day when those who had their 20th birthday between April of last year and March of this year celebrate coming of age. A great day to see lots of pretty girls wearing beautiful kimono. In this era most of these girls will need someone to help them dress as they may never have worn a formal kimono before. |
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| February | - Feb 11 (Sunday) National Foundation Day Kenkokukinen no Hi
(always on 11th) Celebrates the founding of the Japanese nation. Once known (with rightest connotations) as Kigensetsu |
| - Feb 12 (Monday) National Foundation Day (carried over from Sunday)
This year the holiday is carried over to Monday so we don't lose a chance to rest. |
|
| - Feb 14 (Wednesday) Valentine's Day Valentine's Day is not a holiday, but the chocolate industry has succeeded in convincing women that they must give a present of chocolate to each man. Great for romance but onerous for the OL (office lady) who works with many men. |
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| March | - March 3 (Saturday) Doll Festival Hina Matsuri (always
the third day of the third month) Not a holiday, though it probably should be to give the girls parity with the male emphasis of Childrens' Day in May. |
| - Mar 20 (Tuesday) Shunbun no Hi (always on March 20 or 21)
This is the Vernal Equinox (night/day are equal). |
|
| April | - Apr 1 (Sunday) The new school year starts in April. Graduates go to work at companies. Companies engage in a major shifting of staff from job to job or office to office. Most companies start their business year from April 1. And the government's budget year starts now. |
| - Apr 29 (Sunday) Greenery Day Midori no Hi (always
April 29) A day for environmentalists. Perhaps more importantly, this day marks the start of Golden Week. This week will see many companies running with less than their normal staff as individuals take off all or part of the week for holiday. A viewer of this page reminded us that this date is the birthday of the last emperor, Emperor Showa (Hirohito). When he died, I guess nobody wanted to lose a holiday especially the holiday that starts Golden Week, the period from April 29 through May 5 which is filled with holidays and other excuses not to work. Environmentalism has become trendy, and the weather is great; so a new name for an old holiday. |
|
| - Apr 30 (Monday) Greenery Day Midori no Hi (carried over from Sunday) | |
| May | - May 1 (Tuesday) May Day (always May 1) This is not a bank holiday, but is a day for labor rallies. In the old days the railroads stopped. Only the intrepid got to the office by walking. Unfortunately there is no such excuse for skipping work these days |
| - May 3 (Thursday) Constitution Memorial Day Kempo Kinenbi
(always May 3) Celebrates the post-war constitution of Japan. Provides a chance to demonstrate for those who think that the constitution should be changed. And for their opposite numbers who will oppose any change. |
|
| - May 4 (Friday) People's Day Kokumin no Kyujitsu (always
May 4) This is a new holiday from 1999. |
|
| - May 5 (Saturday) Children's Day Kodomo no Hi (always
the fifth day of the fifth month) Traditionally this was Boy's Day. This marks the end of Golden Week. |
|
| - May 13 (Sunday) Mother's Day Not a holiday. Not traditional for Japanese but of growing importance in today's Japan. |
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| June | - Jun 17 (Sunday) Father's Day Not a holiday. Even the department stores don't do much with this day, but it is gaining. |
| July | - Jul 7 (Saturday) Tanabata (always seventh day of
the seventh month) Not a holiday. A reader complained that we had not listed this major traditional folklore festival. A great excuse for stargazing with a friend. One source for Tanabata info is http://home.att.ne.jp/gold/aosara/articles/tanabata.htm |
| - Jul 13-15 (Friday-Sunday) Obon (Tokyo) Not a national holiday, but this is the period when Japanese visit the graves of their ancestors. |
|
| - Jul 20 (Friday) Marine Day Umi no Hi (always July
20) This is a new holiday that started from 1997. With schools finally closed this holiday can be thought to mark the start of the Summer Holidays which last till the end of August. |
|
| August | - Aug 13-15 (Monday - Wednesday) Obon (always
Aug 13-15) Not a national holiday, but this is the period (Festival of Souls) when Japanese visit the graves of their ancestors. The summer holiday season is at its peak during this week in the middle of August. August 6 is the day Hiroshima was A-bombed; Nagasaki was hit August 9. The war ended on August 15. |
| September | - Sep 15 (Saturday) Respect for the Aged Day Keiro no Hi
(always on Sept 15) The television stars on this day are those who are over 100 years old. Some are in remarkably good health. There are 77 people 108 years of age. Japan will soon have 5% of its population in the 85+ bracket. Businesses are expanding their products and services aimed at the growing seniors market. |
| - Sep 23 (Sunday) Autumnal Equinox Shunbun no Hi (always
on Sept 23) Night and day are equal again. |
|
| - Sep 24 (Monday) Autumnal Equinox Shunbun no Hi (carried over from Sunday) | |
| - Sep (late in the month) Saturday INFORM2001 Not a holiday. Our small exhibition for English books and magazines. Emphasis on what is published in English in Japan plus travels guides. Many publications that are seldom or never seen in the stores. Great for browsers and researchers. For more info click on INFORM2001 on our home page. |
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| October | - Oct 8 (Monday) Sports Day Taiku no Hi (always on
second Monday) Parents all over Japan will be going to athletics events at their children's schools. |
| - Oct 31 (Wednesday) Halloween Not a holiday but the stores and TV are promoting it more each year. Chance to party. |
|
| November | - Nov 3 (Saturday) Culture Day Bunka no Hi (always
on Nov 3) Somehow they always forget to give me a culture prize on this day.(more) |
| - Nov 15 (Thursday) Shichi-Go-San Festival (always Nov 15)
Shichi = 7, Go = 5, San = 3. Not a holiday but a traditional festival. Especially for boys age 5 and girls ages 3 and 7. A chance for parents to dress these children in kimono. |
|
| - Nov 23 (Friday) Labor Thanksgiving Day Kinro Kansha no Hi
(always on Nov 23) (more)
No, the Japanese do not eat a turkey dinner on this day. |
|
| December | - Dec 23 (Sunday) Emperor's Birthday Tenno Tanjobi
(always on Dec 23) This is the current Emperor's birthday. His reign has been named Heisei (Succeed at Peace). The number after Heisei (at top of this page) indicates the year of his reign. |
| - Dec 24 (Monday) Emperor's Birthday Tenno Tanjobi (carried over from Sunday) | |
| - Dec 25 (Tuesday) Christmas This is not a legal holiday, but children expect presents. The stores milk this day for all they can, and then make a quick switch to New Year gifts. Christmas lights and trees are becoming popular and are often mixed with the traditional New Year decorations which also include tree decorations. It is quite possible to imagine a total merger of New Year/Christmas. Green tree decorations, sending cards and giving gifts to friends and relatives, special foods, and a once-a-year rest from work and rekindling of family relations ... these are common to both. Santa Claus can easily adapt to Japan. Christmas music, both popular and classical, is popular, but Christ is not likely to have more than a minor role in this largely (nominally) Buddhist country. |
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| - Dec 28 (Friday) Not a holiday this is usually the last working day of the year for office workers, but little serious work is done. The doors will open again one week later. The big exception now is the retail industry which hardly takes a one day rest. |
Newpaper Holidays - Newspaper delivery
agents take a holiday one day per month. On that day the newspapers are published
and available at shops but are not delivered to subscribers.
Bank Holidays - There are no special
bank holidays. Banks are generally open 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday to
Friday. They are closed, Saturday, Sunday and national holidays. Bank cash
machines are open longer hours, but not always.
There
are thousands of festivals throughout Japan. Many many are in summer. It sometimes
seems that every village or city block is having its own festival. Use your
browser to search for the words "festival" and "japan", and you will find
much information. Not exciting but this site has some reliable info http://www.japanig.com/. The above table
of holidays has been produced by Intercontinental Marketing Corp, Tokyo,
Japan, booksellers, magazine subscription agents, publishers and information
specialists. In making our own corrections we relied upon the calendar in
the Japan Yellow Pages (English classified telephone directory) and the
calendar produced by Tokyo English Life Line (TELL) for foreign residents.
TELL is a very helpful organization and can be reached at http://www.tell.gol.com.
If you have a question, correction, or addition, send us an email. To learn more about us and what we sell, follow the links from http://imcbook.net/. Choose English or Japanese, and then choose the country/region where you are located or your area of interest. You will have to click several times but these pages load fast and you should have no trouble getting to a useful webpage. If you are eager to subscribe to an English magazine published in Japan click here and check out Kyoto Journal, Tokyo Journal,SportsWorld Japan (Sports Fan), Kansai Time Out, etc.
For a very special Japanese calendar, take a look at http://www1.neweb.ne.jp/wa/ray-go/cal00/index.html
Japan and Asia travel guides TRAVEL BOOKSHOP TOKYO This is on our Japanese website and is mainly for people in Japan, but it can be used by anyone interested in travel guides.
If you would like to see the Japanese characters for each holiday try http://home.ntt.com/japan/holydays-gif.html
Here is another English (but slow loading) site with good info on Japanese holidays http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/8930/Izu/index.html
Another
(and this is part of the "Japan Information Network") with much info on holidays,
traditional festivals and such will be found at http://jin.jcic.or.jp/kidsweb/calendar/calendar.html.
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