Seal Of My Fate: Golden Week

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Japanese Culture Fact: GOLDEN WEEK

Golden Week also known as 大型連休 OR 黄金週間 is a Japanese term applied to the period containing the following public holidays:

April 29
Emperor's Birthday (天皇誕生日)
Greenery Day, or Nature Day
Shōwa Day (昭和の日)

May 3
Constitution Memorial Day (憲法記念日, Kenpō kinenbi?)

May 4
Holiday† (国民の休日, Kokumin no kyūjitsu?), from 1985 until 2006
Greenery Day, or Nature Day (みどりの日, Midori no hi?) (from 2007)

May 5
Children's Day also customarily known as Boys' Day (端午の節句).
†: "kokumin no kyūjitsu" or "citizen's holiday" is a generic term for any official holiday. May 4th was until 2007 an unnamed but official holiday because of a rule that converts any day between two holidays into a new holiday.

Note that May Day (on May 1) is not a public holiday, but is nevertheless often granted as a holiday by many companies. When a public holiday lands on a Sunday, the next day that is not already a holiday becomes a holiday for that year.

My Golden Week is coming! Wohoo! My Boss will be in Perth for 2 weeks. That is when I will apply leave on Monday and Friday of both week and nau at home. Muahahahha!