November 3rd is “Culture Day” in Japan.
Japan has roughly 20 national holidays, which is about double the number in other developed nations. The holidays range from seasonal (Spring and Autumn Equinoxes are observed as holidays) to the societal (“Respect for the Elderly Day”), the Imperial (the Emperor’s birthday), the Patriotic (“Japanese National Foundation Day”) and the natural (“Sea Day”).
Culture Day is of course a good excuse to engage in some cultural pursuit, and many cultural institutions took advantage of this holiday to promote themselves, for example museums often have free entry on this day.
However, in reality most people just enjoy Culture Day as a day off work. In a country where employees are pressured into working long hours, national holidays are a government-sanctioned means of reducing this overworking epidemic.
Indeed, the government’s recognition of this problem has caused them to create some slightly vague (in a “what does this day represent exactly?” kind of way) national days, such as the above mentioned Sea Day, and also the recently created Mountain Day. Since this holiday was created, there is now only one month which does not contain any national holidays.
Calligraphy by Vicky 