Golden Week

So Golden Week has come and gone, and most of the country has been enjoying a raft of holidays. This starts with Showa Day, with this year’s day off being recognized on 30th April, as it actually falls on Sunday 29th. If you are fortunate like me, your company also may grant you May Day, 1st May as a holiday. Thursday is Constitutional Memorial Day (Kenpo Kinenbi), and Friday is Greenery Day (Midori no Hi), which means that if you were able to take Wednesday off work, effectively you have week off.

It seems to me that Golden Week is one of the few times of the year at which most Japanese people are able to actually take time off and relax. At the company I work for, there are three distinct periods in which this occurs, Golden Week being one of them. The second is the New Year period, at which our office closes for around three or four days. Where I work, the company grants all employees a Summer Vacation period of one week, and although this can be taken at any time between June and October, a lot of employees are encouraged to use this time to visit family and relatives during Obon in August.

One of the issues with the standardizing of leave periods throughout the country is that as everyone races to take a break, prices of train and plane fares skyrocket, and accommodation becomes fully booked very quickly. I heard from one of my colleagues recently, that last Golden week he tried going to Kamakura, however as the train was so full of people, he and his wife literally could not step on board.

I have found, from past experience, that if you do want to leave Japan during these peak seasons, if you are able to be slightly flexible in the dates you can travel, fares are often somewhat cheaper. For example, leaving the Friday prior and returning the Monday following a week such as Obon or Golden Week, often means a savings of up to 40%.

This year, as I have family & friends visiting Japan from overseas, I decided to stay in town and show them some of the wonders of Tokyo. We visited some historic sites, such as Meiji Jingu in Harajuku and Sensoji in Asakusa. We managed to get away and enjoy the peaceful beauty of Nikko and Hakone.

That is one of things that I truly love about Japan; the balance of old, traditional culture, and cutting edge technology and innovation. This can be seen in a woman wearing a kimono down the street, and in temples and shrines, and is in stark contrast to the bright lights of Ginza or the raft of gadgets available for sale in Akihabara.

Whatever you did this Golden Week; I hope you enjoyed some time out.