DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS?

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Children's Day, Constitution Day, Golden Week, Greenery Day, Hirohito, japanese emperor, Tenno Heika, YUJI DIALOGUES

Dane: Tomorrow’s the 29th. I hear we’ve got the day off.

Yuji: Yes, it’s a national holiday.

Dane: What holiday is it?

Yuji: Uh, I don’t know.

Dane: Well, I’m sure the Japanese aren’t celebrating Obama’s 100th day in office. So, can anybody tell me what holiday April 29th is?

Reiko: It’s Greenery Day.

Dane: But I heard May 4th is Greenery Day.

Fumio: That’s right. Starting last year they changed the 29th from Greenery Day to Showa Day and moved Greenery Day to the 4th.

Dane: So, what does Showa Day celebrate?

Daisuke: It’s the birthday of Emperor Hirohito, the Showa Emperor.

Fumio: It used to be, but not anymore. Now it celebrates the Showa Era of Peace.

昭和時代

SHOWA ERA: 12/25/1926 – 1/7/1989

Dane: That’s so Japanese. Conservative patriots like Daisuke can celebrate the war emperor and liberals like Fumio can celebrate peace — both on the same day!

Reiko: And next week we all celebrate Golden Week . Every day from the 3rd to the 6th is a holiday!

Dane: What’s the 3rd?

Reiko: I thinks it’s, uh, National Founding Day.

Fumio: No, that’s in February. May 3rd is Constitution Day.

Dane: And the 4th is Greenery Day, so what’s the 5th?

Daisuke: It’s Children’s Day.

Dane: How do you celebrate that?

Daisuke: We fly koinobori fish wind socks for every boy in the family.

Dane: Only for the boys?

Daisuke: Yes, traditionally it’s Boys’ Day.

Reiko: Girls’ Day is on March 3rd, but it’s not a national holiday.

Dane: This is all very confusing. I’m afraid to ask about the 6th.

Fumio: Oh, the 6th is an alternate day off since Constitution Day is on a Sunday this year.

Dane:  OK.  I suppose it doesn’t really matter what you call it, as long as we get some days off.  But it seems like a lot.  How many national holidays do you have every year, anyway?

Yuji:  15 regular national holidays plus another 4 or more days off during New Year and the summer Obon festival.

Dane:  You’re kidding! Americans have only 9 national holidays.

Yuji:  We like to take our vacations at the same time, so we have more holidays and fewer personal vacation days.

Dane:  So I guess it’s impossible to go anywhere during New Year’s week, Golden Week and Obon week.

Yuji:  Normally, yes.  But this year with the economy so bad here and the swine flu overseas, it looks like most  everyone’s staying home.

A JAPANESE VIEWPOINT

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Akihito, japanese emperor, Tenno Heika

Sumie Tsumatori is an old friend who has some strong ideas about a lot of things; a quality not often associated with Japanese people in general or Japanese women in particular. To show that such people do exist in Japan, I have rescued her latest remarks from the obscurity of the comment section to give her voice a more public forum.

Dane sama,
I enjoyed the Christmas “poems” Christmas 1958 and 1968, just Dane Degenhardt World.

My comments on Tenno Heika, Banzai seem to have given you the impression I am crazy about the Emperor. Actually, I don’t think of myself as a strong supporter of the Imperial family. I do however, believe it is necessary to have the Emperor as an anchor for Japan and as a way for us to live peacefully in this world.

Have you ever watched a commonplace debate in the Diet? It seems like an unruly class of elementary school children. It’s crazy; the politicians, the bureaucrats and all public employees escape their responsibility, and the prime minister is constantly being replaced. The fact is, the government is dysfunctional and is only good for arguing over theories. Does anybody think about the nation and the people and how to lead them toward more peaceful and happy lives? I don’t think so. As for our foreign allies, most countries look to Japan only for money.

Because of the Emperor, not only the Japanese politicians but also politicians of other countries hesitate to take the final plunge toward their real objectives.

In this country, the rich are seen as the only worthy people and parents advise their children to do all they can to become rich; they see money as the only way to secure supremacy over others. The Imperial Family at least presents a more human ideal for the people to look to.

Because of all this, I worry that without the Emperor, Japan would return to militarism or succumb to yakuza-ism . Don’t you think that’s true?

Sumie

TENNO HEIKA, BANZAI!

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Akihito, japanese emperor, Tenno Heika

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AKIHITO!

Japan’s Emperor celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday today.
Every Japanese I asked said they would not give one thought to their monarch on this national holiday – more than a few didn’t even know they had the day off in his honor! So does that mean the Japanese public is in favor of turning the Royal Palace into a theme park? No way! In fact, unlike the irreverent Brits, there is virtually no republican movement here demanding the royals be thrown out.
My take on this typically Japanese contradiction was “wallpaper”.

Consider this conversation with Taro.

“So, Taro, you mean to say you never give a second thought to the emperor, and yet you like having an emperor?”

“Yes, of course.”

“So, he’s kind of like wallpaper, isn’t he?

“What the heck are you talking about?”

“Did you spend much to wallpaper your home?”

“Yes, quite a bit.”

“Do you sit around gazing at the subtle prints of textured Japanese fans?”

“No, except maybe on the morning after a year-end party.”

“Would you ever consider stripping the walls of their extravagant covering?”

“Never. I can’t imagine life without it.”

“Well, it sure sounds to me like your feelings for the emperor are about the same as your feelings about the wallpaper in your house.”

Conversations like this give me reason to believe that as long as Japanese homes have wallpaper, Japan will have an emperor.

I myself am quite a royal fan – since his birthday makes December 23rd, our wedding anniversary, a national holiday.

Long live the Emperor!