We had Golden week this week. Many Japanese workers get about a week off around the end of April and beginning of May. This is because there is a cluster of national holidays during this time. The "week" starts on April 29, a National holiday for nature appreciation. This year, it was on Friday, therefore most of people had 3 days off. May 3 is Constitution Memorial Day and May 5 is Children's Day, set aside to pray for the healthy growth and happiness of boys and girls. Because May 4 falls between two holidays, this day was also designated a national holiday. Some companies give employees a day off or two in between holidays, so some can have 7 to 10 days off. That’s why we call this week ‘GOLDEN’ well, I think it means something extremely valuable!! (Rob says I have Golden Week every week at the moment!)
One bad thing is that EVERYONE tries to go somewhere at once. Imagine 130 million people on the move at once. Crazy!!!!!!!!
Anyway, in keeping with the tradition, we too made a short trip to Sera Kogen, Hiroshima. Sera Kogen is located in the mountains and is famous for flowers. We left home at 7am in the morning ( Yes I was awake) and drove 2 hours to get there. First, we went to see some tulips, and then moved to see Shiba Zakura, which means lawn-cherry blossom. The vast array of flowers looked like a huge carpet.
On the way home, we saw a 30 km traffic jam on the highway. It is not new to me so I will leave thoughts on the traffic and craziness of the Golden Week for Rob to write about in the next blog.
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