Golden Week

Golden Week is over.  The Japanese have settled back down into their working schedules after as many as nine days away from the dreary life of the salaryman.  English classes have resumed and students are back in school. 

Kinkakuji - The Golden Pavillion in Kyoto

This is one of the three times a year that all Japanese workers and students have time off.  The first week of May, several holidays combine to create the oasis known as Golden Week.  What is particularly interesting is that few (if any) students and coworkers I asked knew more than one or two of the holidays that make up Golden Week.  It has become little more than a time to drink as much alcohol as possible, much the way that Easter Vacation has transformed into the modern Spring Break. 

Being a foreigner, you have no choice but to fall victim to the drastic increases in ticket and hotel prices during these times.  Your best bet is to try to plan the most popular sites on the 1st and 2nd of May.  These two days are not national holidays so schools are in session and most people work.  Even so, expect to pay double for a Shinkansen ticket only to find yourself packed into tourist sites like sugar molecules in a can of Red Bull. 

Excuse my poor attempt to avoid using the traditional “sardine” simile here and focus on the moral of the story: Golden Week is not the best time to plan your trip to Japan.  My brother and I were "lucky" enough to spend the rainiest day of the week in Kyoto.  We were quite wet, but crowds weren't so bad.  

The best way to enjoy your time off is to partake in the hundreds of barbecues taking place in any given square-kilometer.  As I mentioned in the recent “Hanami” post, spring is the happiest time in Japan.  The joy that I experienced a few weeks ago was nothing compared to what the past week has been like.  Parks are filled with large group barbecues all week.  I guarantee that somebody in your business, school, or community will invite you to at least one during this time.

Not your average kites

It’s also festival season.  The most difficult decision you’ll have to make during your time off is which festival to attend and which food to purchase while you’re there.  I chose the tako-matsuri, or kite festival in neighboring Hamamatsu City.  What I had imagined were large groups of little children flying their homemade kites around near the beach.  Silly gaijin, why would it ever be that anticlimactic in Japan?  Those are not kites by Japanese standards.  Instead, when I emerged from the bamboo-lined walkway, I was greeted by a crashing 9ft x 9ft dragon-faced entanglement of rope, canvas and drunken Hamamatsu residents playing a repetitive one-line melody on bugles.  All the while, the twenty-five people taking part in the flying of the kite continue to scream the Japanese equivalent of “heave-ho” and down as much sake and Asahi Super Dry as their light frames can handle.  It’s like Oktoberfest with dinner table-sized projectiles flying in all directions.  I recommend that one of your party stand watch at a time so that he or she may warn those looking through viewfinders when to run for you lives. 

Children take a break from the tako-matsuri 

When the battlefield becomes too overwhelming, most would make the short walk to the beach for a little R&R before heading back into the storm.  Don’t mistake my violent description here, for I recommend this festival to anyone in the Aichi/Shizuoka area during Golden Week.  It’s absolutely fantastic.

After the kite festival, we made our way to the International Food Festival to await the start of the night parade and city street festival.  Traditional Japanese performers, food so good it made me want to leave Japan, and German beer make for a happy Seth.  It’s been a long time since I was able to taste a good Bavarian käsekreiner.

For observers of the street festival, it’s a good time to relax.  The post-sunset action can be enjoyed from restaurants overlooking the parade route or along the sidewalk.  It’s a great time to let the combination of tradition and modern fluorescent lighting remind you of why you chose to come to Japan in the first place.  The longer I’m here, the more I truly appreciate the uniqueness of these community events and understand why the Japanese take them so seriously.  As Eastern life becomes the norm, I require more and more shock to take me back to the mindset that inspires the cheesiest of travel blog writing.  The idealistic lens through which any traveler views a new place is being slowly replaced by the more pessimistic microscope of a long-time resident.  It feels refreshing to get out and experience something that reminds me of how lucky I am to be amongst these people in such a capacity and help me to fall in love with the uniqueness of their culture all over again.