It's Golden Week!

It's Golden Week in Japan! Golden week is a week in late-April and early-May that has 4 public holidays close together. So, we get some extra days off school/work! Golden week is Showa Day (29th April), Constitution Memorial Day (3rd May), Greenery Day (4th May) and Children's Day (5th May).

Golden week reminds me of Easter in the UK. Easter is also in spring and we have holidays so tourist areas get very busy and many people just like to stay at home!

During Golden Week, many people travel to visit family or go sightseeing at the popular spots in Japan. For this reason, people often just stay at home because everywhere is so busy! I have always stayed in our town around this time, so I don't know how busy places get in Golden Week.

Golden week is the time when lots of people go out into the fields to plant rice. I love this time of year because the town transforms! There are so many rice fields here. From autumn to spring they are empty and brown. From May until spring they are full of water and rice sprouts. In summer the rice plants are thick, green and later a beautiful golden colour. The fields are so much more beautiful in spring and summer! I think lots of people plant the rice at this time as family members have no work or school so they can help out!

I like Golden Week as that is when we usually go to see the Koinobori (fish flags) in Kamo (Niigata). They hang hundreds of them over the river. If the weather is warm, we sometimes play in the river. The water is quite clean as it is close to the mountains so it is really lovely on warm days.

What do you do in Golden Week? Do you go travelling? Visit friends? Stay home?! Whatever you do, I hope you have fun!