Golden Week: Pick Your Holiday

Despite its name, Golden Week is not officially a week-long holiday. Rather, it is a series of holidays that are spread out over a week. Many companies allow their employees to take the whole week off, but banks and most schools do not take a week-long holiday. This year, the holiday starts on April 29 and ends on May 5, but May 1 and 2 are work and school days for most Japanese.

When you take a look at the holidays that coincide with Golden Week, you can see why many people decide to call it vacation for the whole week:

	Sunday, April 29, was previously known as Greenery Day (みどりの日 midori-no hi), but this year will be known as Showa Day (昭和の日 shouwa-no hi).
	Monday, April 30, is a substitute holiday (振替休日 furigae-kyuujitsu） because Showa Day falls on Sunday this year.
	Thursday, May 3, is Constitution Day (憲法記念日 kenpou-kinen-bi).
	Friday, May 4, used to be People's Day (国民の休日 kokumin-no kyuujitsu), but now takes on the role of Greenery Day.
	Saturday, May 5, is Children's Day (子供の日 kodomo-no hi). This day traditionally emphasized boys (girls are celebrated on March 3), but recently the holiday has become more gender-neutral.

Did you get all that? Golden Week (in Japanese, it is called literally gooruden wiiku) was coined by a film company director who, as an advertising catchphrase, commented that it was "a golden time" to catch up on the latest cinema releases. Japanese are rather fond of labeling, so the name stuck.

Speaking of cinema, this year's big movies are Babel, partly set in Japan, and Spiderman 3, which has made history by being the first Hollywood blockbuster to premiere in Japan—just in time for the Golden Week crowds.

Have Time (Off), Will Travel

And crowds it will be! Traditionally, Golden Week has been a time for people to get back to their hometowns and spend time with the family. But in recent times, more and more Japanese are opting for travel and sightseeing.

If you go to any popular travel destination in the world, especially in Asia and the west coast of North America, you will no doubt find large numbers of Japanese tour groups. (In case you're wondering, it's true—Japanese really, really like sightseeing in groups.)

The prices during this season are the highest of the year, but the number of tourists venturing out of Japan grows every year. This year Narita International Airport expects 727,000 travelers to go through its departure gates during Golden Week season.

Domestic tourist destinations are also a favorite among locals. The national highways are jam packed with traffic inching slowly toward equally crowded tourist hot spots like Kyoto and Nara.

This time of year, the weather is perfect throughout Japan, and many spring flowers are in full bloom. It is really tempting to try something adventurous during this season.

Personally I can resist the temptation, but this year I am going try to be truly adventurous...get in the full swing of Golden Week...and do absolutely nothing the whole week! Then again, I am in Japan, and a week of doing nothing here in bustling Fukuoka? Well, that's just impossible.