Labor Thanksgiving Day

November 23rd is a national holiday, named Labor Thanksgiving Day.

It used to be a historically ritual, called "Ni-Name-Sai"or "Shinjo-Sai", celebrating harvest of cereals such as rice, wheat, and so on.

The picture below shows an alter of Shintoism, worshipping the ancient royal family ( founders ) of Japan.

Usually, in this season of a year, the trees change colors to red, yellow or orange, but this year that transition seems slow.

cats in my house

Hello, I am Karron, 10 years old boy.

Some may know me through Skype.

Recently, I can sit like this and hold my neck up.

I can see things in the different view and feel how humans see things.

Let me introduce my sister Lien, a shy girl and please look at a picture below.

the Culture Day

November 3rd is called "the Culture Day"; one of the national holidays.

Before World War the Second, this was the holiday to celebrate the Meiji Emperor's birthday.

After World War the Second, the Constitution of Japan was proclaimed on the 3rd of November, 1946.
6 months later, on the 3rd of May, the Constitution of Japan was enforced and it is the national holiday as well.

This season is the mid of Autumn and trees and leaves are changing their colors, not so many but some trees feel the atmosphere of Autumn coming.

The Super Moon

It was the Super Moon in September 27, sorry, it is a little late topics.

Unfortunately it was clouded after heavy rain due to a strong atmospheric pressure, but still the moon showed up to say hello for us.

Super Moon is the moon to which the closest distance from the earth.

The picture below is shot by iPhone 6, see its wide dynamic range.

If it had tiny zooming lens, a digital camera would lose that market.

The List of National Holidays in Japan

This page lists the national holidays in Japan and most of holidays are supposed to be  linked to the page describing the history and customs of the national holiday respectively.

(Sorry, some holidays are not linked yet; they are under construction)

I set this page up to banner menu above, so that you can check them out whenever you want.

January 1st:  "Oshogatsu"  the New Year Day

The second Monday of January: "Seijin no HI"  the Coming-of-Age Day

February 3rd:  "Kenkoku Kinen no Hie" the day of national foundation

March 20th:  "Shunbun no Hi" the Spring Equinox 

April 29th:  "Showa no Hi" the day of "Showa"

May 3rd:  "Kenpou Kinenbi" the Memorial Day of the Constitution 

May 4th:  "Midori no Hi" the day of Green

May 5th:  "Kodomo no Hi" the day of Children 

July 20th:  "Umi no Hi" the day of Sea

The third Monday of September:  "Keiro no Hi" 

September 20th: "Shuubun no Hi"   the Autumn Equinox

The second Monday of October: "Taiiku no Hi"  the day of Sports

November 3rd: "Bunka no Hi"  the Culture Day

November 24th: "Kinrou Kansha no Hi"  the Labour Thanksgiving Day

December 23rd:  "Tennou Tanjobi"  the Empelor's Birthday

The Silver Week 2015

September usually has 2 national holidays; the Respect for the Aged Day and Autumn Equinox, and this year, we have an extra holiday between two holidays.

The respect for the Aged Day is the third Monday of September, and Autumn Equinox is the 23rd of September.  Then, 22nd is the Bridge Public holiday, meaning in between the two holidays.

http://www.timeanddate.com

I went out of town to visit our friends lodge in the South Alps mountains, just 3 hours away from the metropolitan area.

Trees and leaves are just getting to change their colors and cool enough to put on a jacket.

Water is very nice and tasty, no chlorine, no artificial purification.  

In mountain area, one of the typical food is "Soba noodle", made of buckwheat.

Black things on the top of Soba noodle are sea weed.

Usually, we dip Soba noodle into soy sauce base soup, and fried shrimp and /or fried vegetables are good side dishes to Soba noodle.

A donkey, ducks and a chicken (maybe hen) are playing around outside of cages.

It looks very "natural".

University of Tokyo

This historical gate is called "Akamon", meaning the Red Gate in the University of Tokyo, the top university in Japan.

This gate used to belong to a famous samurai residence, and now it is a symbol of the university and academia.

The picture below is the front gate of the university.

The university of Tokyo was established in 1877, so as to nurture the beaurocrats to manage modern Japan in Meiji period, just after Tokugawa Shogun era.