Golden Week (Japan)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since November 2006.

This phrase also refers to Golden Week (China)

Golden Week (ゴールデンウィーク, Gōruden Uīku^?), also known as Ōgata renkyū (大型連休, Ōgata renkyū^?) or Ōgon shūkan (黄金週間, Ōgon shūkan^?), is a Japanese term applied to the period containing the following public holidays:

April 29
- Greenery Day, or Nature Day (みどりの日, Midori no hi^?), until 2006
- Shōwa Day (昭和の日, Shōwa no hi^?), from 2007
May 3
- Constitution Memorial Day (憲法記念日, Kenpō kinenbi^?)
May 4
- People's Day, or Citizen's Day (国民の休日, Kokumin no kyūjitsu^?), until 2006
- Greenery Day, or Nature Day (みどりの日, Midori no hi^?) (from 2007)
May 5
- Children's Day (こどもの日, Kodomo no hi^?), also known as Boys' Day (端午の節句, Tango no sekku^?)

Note that May Day, also known as Labor Day (労働祭, Rōdōsai^?) (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.

[edit] History

The term was coined by movie theater operators after a new law in 1948 created the consecutive holidays, and thus increased attendance. At the time, April 29 was a national holiday celebrating the birth of Emperor Showa. Upon his death in 1989, the day was renamed as "Greenery Day" in order to retain Golden Week.

In 2007, Greenery Day will move to May 4, and April 29 will be renamed Showa Day.

[edit] Current practice

Many Japanese take paid time off on the intervening work days, but some companies also close down completely and give their employees time off. The longest vacation period of the year for most Japanese jobs, Golden Week is an extremely popular time to travel. Flights, trains, and hotels are often fully booked despite significantly higher rates at this time. Even some foreign destinations (such as mainland Asian Countries, Guam, Saipan, Hawaii, and cities on the U.S. west coast such as Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco) are affected during this season by large numbers of Japanese tourists.