The Week of Gold
いい天気で、日本人はゴールデンウィークを楽しんでいます！
Finally, some nice warm weather. The past few weeks were drowned in rain while the sun poked a few mere holes in and there in the grey skies over Japan.
While my girlfriend is gone to do some shopping nearby, I decided to take a walk around our place and get on the next train to Kawagoe, a small city at the end of the line also known as “Little Edo.” Most of the seats were taken, but compared to the last departures of the night filled with passengers, this was desertion. At the first stop after I got on, a few people got off and I was lucky to get a corner seat, where I sat and fell asleep… again.
I do not know what it is about the trains here. Rare were the times when I fell asleep on a bus in Ottawa. The only times when I dosed off was on the 96, late at night, when coming back from Kanata after a long day at the call centre. Despite my persistence back home, I often want to treat the benches on the Japanese trains as my second bed. Maybe there are comfortable and warm just enough to give me the desire to “see” some nice dreams. (In Japanese, people see dreams rather than having them.)
Once arrived at destination, I got off and crowded the stairways with all the other passengers. After touching my integrated circuit card at the gate, I entered the nearby coffee shop and set my notebook bag on the first available table. It is common here to choose a spot before ordering, as free seats are quickly taken. I ordered an iced chocolate drink and sat down. The next second, a lady came to me asking if they can use my extra seat, which I let her do. Finally, after a sip of my small iced drink, I took the notebook out of my bag, opened it, and started writing what you’re reading right now.
Today is busy, but I come here regularly and I’ve seen a lot busier. This Sunday is right in the middle of this year’s Golden Week. That’s how the Japanese call it, literally. (I guess it sounds fancy for them to name one of their own events in English. That wouldn’t be the first time. If you do not speak Japanese, you have no idea how many foreign words are used for even the most basic things.)
Golden Week, abbreviated to “G-Week” or simply “GW”, is an agglomeration of holidays at the end of April and the first week of May. There are four national holidays during that period, including “Showa Day” (Showa no hi, 昭和の日) on April 29, “Constitution Memorial” on March 3, “Greenery Day” (Midori no hi, みどりの日) on March 4, and finally “Children’s Day” (Kodomo no Hi, 子供の日) on March 5.
There is no holiday on the last day of April, but since that would break a straight week of vacation, with the weekend included, many people here schedule time off on April 30. Even though the “week” may not start on Monday, seven consecutive days are enough for the Japanese to call it a week. (Although, it would be to their benefit to have the week start on Monday since you would have an extra weekend, totalling 9 days!)
The weather forecast only has great news for everyone. Many families are eager to travel within or outside Japan during this time. The Shinkansen bullet trains are packed everywhere. The young lad of a family singing off-key behind the fence in front of our apartment woke us up Saturday morning while they were getting ready to leave. Everyone is looking forward for the time off they’ve been working hard for.
For us, since we have no jobs yet, everyday is a day off. We’re not bragging — we miss getting income and we can’t wait for each of us to find work — but we saw no point in planning a vacation while we’re already on vacation. So, we decided to simply stay at home.
It’s not all bad. Actually, it’s better than I thought. Many places in our area are less crowded, probably because of all the people who left. Even the trains are not as packed as usual. Frankly, I’m surprised.
The only downside is most of the ATMs are closed during the holidays. I already mentioned before that most of the ATMs in Japan are not available 24/7. They are closed outside business hours and during national holidays. I was smart to open an account with a bank which has 24/7 ATMs available within reach! (Too bad their online banking service is a pain to use…)
Well, I’m done with my iced drink. Time to leave this seat to another customer and to enjoy the rest of my “staycation.”
