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Celebrate: Hina Matsuri
Hina Matsuri, also known as Girls’ Day, is coming up this weekend (March 3). Tiers of hina dolls have been popping up in the past few weeks, making for beautiful and eye-catching displays everywhere...
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Celebrate: Golden Week
In my life, I have lived in two societies that had set vacation times. In France, everyone would hightail it from the cities to the coasts for nearly the entire month of August. And in Japan, the week...
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Celebrate: Rice Planting
How do I know that it’s summer in Japan? Well, for starters, the heat and humidity have definitely cranked up. While I am fairly diligent in my efforts to practice setsuden (energy saving), I must...
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Celebrate: Tanabata (From the Archives)
My husband returned home this week after being away for nearly two months on a business trip. My “reward” for seven weeks of single parenting is a weekend away to explore more of Japan. (Hooray!) I’m...
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Celebrate: Obon
What a hot, muggy, crazy week it’s been! I started off this month thinking that August in Kyushu might not be so bad, certainly not as bad as August in Okinawa. Right? Right??? Unfortunately, the...
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Celebrate: Respect for the Aged Day (From the Archives)
Parts of this post were originally published on September 17, 2012. Respect for the Aged Day (known in Japanese as Keiro no Hi) is not exactly a holiday that most travelers will notice. Like Labor Day...
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Celebrate: Tsukimi (Moon-Viewing)
Apologies for two Celebrate posts in a row but this week is just jam-packed with holidays, it seems. The moon comes up every night like clockwork, but tomorrow’s moon is just a little more special....
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Celebrate: Sports Day
I have to admit, in the pantheon of official Japanese holidays, this has always been one of my least favorites. Why? No reason other than that for three straight years, I was subjected to the incessant...
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Celebrate: Culture Day
Happy Culture Day, everyone! Yes, welcome to the fourth of fall’s many three day weekends. I’m taking advantage of this one as much as possible, with a visit to the Karatsu Kunchi (festival). So what’s...
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Celebrate: Shichi-go-san (Updated)
If you’re in Japan anytime in the month of November, my advice to you is to hightail it to a shrine. November 15th is Shichi-go-san (literally 7-5-3), a celebration of children aged 3, 5 and 7 and you...
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Celebrate: Emperor’s Birthday
The Japanese may not really celebrate Christmas (beyond eating lots of Kentucky Fried Chicken!) yet they do have an official day off this week, thanks to the timely birthday of their current emperor,...
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Celebrate: O-shogatsu (New Year’s Day) 2014
Happy New Year! For the first time in nearly half a decade, I actually watched the ball drop in Times Square from the same time zone. Last year, I celebrated the New Year in Japan with some wonderful...
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Celebrate: Coming of Age Day (Seijin no Hi)
‘Tis the season … of public holidays, that is. Just like it seems that every other Monday in autumn is a public holiday (and a day off ), the weeks between the end of December and the beginning of...
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Celebrate: Setsubun 2014
Happy Setsubun, everyone! Did you throw your soybeans today? Setsubun is Japan’s spring festival, celebrated the day before the official first day of spring. The purpose of the holiday is to cleanse...
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Celebrate: Hina Matsuri (Girls’ Day)
Today is officially Hina Matsuri, also known as Girls’ Day, though I must admit I feel like we have been celebrating for quite some time now. Tiers of hina dolls have been popping up in the past few...
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Celebrate: White Day
I had a Spotlight post on a very unique sight in Kagoshima all geared up and ready to go for today until I remembered the date. It’s White Day. So. Who’s got my chocolate? In Japan, Valentine’s Day is...
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Celebrate: Golden Week 2014
In Japan, the week of April 29-May 5 is practically labeled “national vacation week”. Last year, having just returned from a two week trip to Italy with my inlaws, my husband and I stuck pretty close...
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Celebrate: 300 Posts!
Wow! Check out that number.** I’ve gotta say, I’m kind of proud of myself. When I started blogging to support my fledgling itinerary business, I never really imagined that this site would “take off” so...
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Celebrate: Rainy Season
Ah, and here we are. My iPhone weather app earlier this week showed me a solid six days of showers and thunderstorms. So far, it’s been about half right – we’ve gotten away with some rather lovely days...
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Celebrate: Tanabata 2014
Happy Star Festival, fellow Japanophiles! Today, July 7th, is Tanabata, one of Japan’s more colorful national festivals. The holiday is officially celebrated on July 7th, but in the weeks leading up to...
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