Although there is a sprinkling of national holidays, what strikes a person about celebrations, festivals and holidays in Japan is their local nature. There is scarcely a single day that there is not at least one large local festival or celebration in progress.
The Several Major holidays are: New Year's Day (1 January), Coming of Age Day (15 January), National Foundation Day (11 February), Vernal Equinox (20 or 21 March), Greenery Day (29 April), Constitution Memorial Day (3 May), Children's Day (5 May), Respect-for-the-Aged Day (15 September), Autumnal Equinox (23 or 24 September), Health Sports Day (10 October), Culture Day (3 November), Labor Thanksgiving Day (23 November), Emperor's Birthday (23 December).
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In the spring, bright colors and spring floral patterned Japanese clothing is worn. In autumn, Japanese clothes with fall colors and fall patterns are worn. Japanese clothing designs may include chrysanthemums or maple leaves. In the winter, especially near the holidays, Japanese clothing with patterns and designs such as the bamboo, pine trees or plum blossoms or worn for they signify good luck and prosperity. The fabric of the Japanese clothing also plays a role in the seasons. In the summer, cotton clothes are worn whereas in the fall and winter, heavier or lined clothing is worn.
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The Japanese Language
The written language of Japan is a combination of Chinese derived ideograms (Kanji) and phonetic syllabary . With 1945 Jouyou Kanji and 92 Kana in the 'minimum for literacy' you might think that learning written Japanese an overwhelming task. But the spelling in kana is phonetic . And consider that learning the 1945 kanji 'words' is a smaller task than learning the spelling of the thousands of english words required for basic literacy in english and it does not seem so overwhelming. Indeed - much as when learning english spelling, you rapidly discover that common patterns simplify the overall task of learning the Japanese writing system.
