Silver Week

Just thought I'd do a short introduction about Silver Week since it was just over, though apparently it's not officially over (all the sales anyway ;) ) till this Sunday.

Silver Week or シルバーウィーク in katakana, is basically a string of consecutive holidays in September, where 3 public holidays fall immediately after a weekend. So this year, the Monday 21st of September was the Respect for the Aged Day (敬老の日, Keirō no hi), and Wednesday 23rd of September was the Autumn Equinox day (秋分の日Shūbun no hi). Well so Monday was a day that has been declared a national holiday which specially honours the elderly in Japan. Apparently, this tradition started in just one particular city in 1947, although it was originally held on 15 September, but the popularity spread such that in 1966, it was then declared a national holiday. As for the Equinox, it is a day when the earth's axis is neither tilting toward nor away from the Sun, hence the Sun is shining directly upon the Equator. This happens twice a year - once in spring and once in autumn - and apparently marks the middle of the season (spring or autumn).

If Monday and Wednesdays were both holidays, then what about Tuesday? Well that was Citizen's Holiday (国民の休日Kokumin no kyuujitsu), whereby Japanese Law states that when there are two national holidays just one day apart, the day in between shall be declared a holiday as well. What a thoughtful rule huh? Singapore's national holidays are all too nicely calculated and spaced out though.

Oh wait, what about the "Silver" in "Silver Week"? Well yeah, so that apparently comes from the graying hair colour of the elderlies. And perhaps also in comparison, it is a less significant and shorter holiday period as compared to the Golden Week.