Bunka no Hi

While I was at the shodo concert a few days ago, I had no idea that it also happened to be a holiday in Japan:  Culture Day.  A day to celebrate peace and freedom and promote culture.  Glad I happened to see some Japanese calligraphy.  What if I had been watching Breaking Bad all day instead?  

The Japanese holidays are little treasures, and there are a lot of them.  Things that are important to the country, reminders throughout the year of things that may get brushed aside in the day-to-day.  It's made me a little more interested in what public holidays can say about a country, about what they deem to be important enough to warrant time from work, and perhaps reflection.  The Japanese seem a little holiday happy in comparison to the Americans, but I'm happy to enjoy it by proxy.  For comparison:   Japanese Holidays and American Holidays.