Japan History and Culture

Japan annual event
The full list of national holidays is as follows:

January 1 (national holiday)
New Year (shogatsu)

The second Monday in January
Coming 0f Age day or Adult’s Day (Seijin-no hi)

February 3
Beginning of spring (setsubun)

February 11 (national holiday)
National Foundation Day (kenkoku kinenbi)

February 14
Valentine’s Day

March 3
Doll’s Festival (hina matsuri)

March 14

White Day

March 20 or 21
Vernal Equinox (Shunbun-no hi)

April 29 (national holiday)
Showa Day (Showa no hi)

May 3 (national holiday)
Constitution Day (kenpo kinenbi)

May 4 (national holiday)
Greenery Day (midori no hi)

May 5 (national holiday)

Children’s Day (kodomo no hi)

July/August 7
Star Festival (tanabata)

The third Monday in July
Marine Day (Umi-no hi)

July/August 13-15
Obon

Third Monday of September (national holiday)
Respect for the Aged Day (keiro no hi)

Around September 23 (national holiday)
Autum Equinox Day (shubun no hi)

Second Monday of October (national holiday)
Health and Sports Day (taiiku no hi)

November 3 (national holiday)
Culture Day (bunka no hi)

November 15
Seven-Five-Three (shichigosan no hi)

November 23 (national holiday)
Labour Thanksgiving Day (kinro kansha no hi)

December 23 (national holiday)
Emperor’s Birthday (tenno no tanjobi)

December 24-25
Christmas

December 31
New Year’s Eve (omisoka)

If a national holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will also be a holiday. If a day lies between two national holidays, the day will also be turned into a holiday.

admin on November 16th, 2008 | File Under Japanese Culture, Japanese Festival | No Comments -

The history of Sapporo Snow Festival (Sapporo Yuki Matsuri)

The Snow Festival began in 1950, when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive snow sculptures, for which the Snow Festival has now become famous. Several snow festivals existed in Sapporo prior to the Sapporo Snow Festival, however, all of these were suspended during World War II.
Owing to the Energy crisis of 1974, snow statues were built using drums. This was due to the shortage of gasoline caused by the crisis and many of the trucks used to carry snow to the site were unavailable. In the same year, the International Snow Statue Competition started and since that year many snow statues built by teams from other countries have featured; especially from sister cities of Sapporo such as Munich.

In years when the accumulated snowfall is low, the Self-Defense Force, for whom participation is considered a training exercise, brings in snow from outside Sapporo. The Makomanai base, one of three main sites from 1965,hosted the largest sculptures, with an emphasis on providing play space for children. Use of the Makomanai site was suspended in 2005 and moved to the Sapporo Satoland site located in Higashi-ku from 2006.

Nakajima Park was established as one of the festival sites in 1990 however, it was removed as a site in 1992.The third site, known as the Susukino Snow Festival is situated in the night-life district of Susukino and includes predominantly ice carvings. The site was approved as one of the festival sites in 1983. In every year, the Susukino Queen of Ice, a female beauty contest, is held at the site

admin on May 21st, 2008 | File Under Japanese History | No Comments -