Japanese Holidays - Japan Culture

Date	Holiday	Description
January 1-3	Japanese New Years	January 1 stands at the beginning of Japan's most important holiday season. Japanese call this season shōgatsu or o-shōgatsu. New Year is mainly a family celebration in Japan. People go back to their home towns or parents' home. As most shops and restaurants are exceptionally closed for 3 days
Second Monday Of January	Coming Of Age Day	All people who turn 20 this year are celebrated on this national holiday. Cities and towns hold ceremonies, often with addresses by prominent members of the community. Many of these ceremonies serve alcoholic beverages, which are the privilege of adults. Disorderly conduct has led some cities to curtail these ceremonies. Until 2000, Coming-of-Age Day always fell on January 15th.
February 3rd	Setsubun	This traditional holiday marks the beginning of the season of spring. While it is not a national holiday, it inherits traditions peculiar to the season. One of these is mamemaki, the throwing of beans. One throws roasted beans out from the house, crying oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi ("out with the devils, in with good fortune").
February 14th	Valantines Day	On this day, women traditionally give chocolates to their special men, as well as to their male coworkers. Valentine's Day is not a national holiday.
March 3rd	Hinamatsuri	This traditional Girls' Festival is not a national holiday. Another name for it is Momo no sekku (the Peach Festival). Girls display a set of dolls dressed in costumes of courtiers of the Heian period. Many families pass these dolls from generation to generation.
March 14th	White Day	On this Japanese twist on Valentine's Day, a man buys his special woman a treat. The national association of candy makers established this event, which formally began in 1980, although its roots date back a few years. It takes its name from the color of sugar. White Day is not a national holiday.
March 21st	Vernal Equinox	The vernal equinox is a national holiday for the admiration of nature and the love of living things. Around this time, various Buddhist sects celebrate the spring higan. Many people visit the graves of their ancestors, washing the tombstone, tidying up the site, and offering flowers. The first celebration in Japan took place in 806.
April 8th	Flower Festival (Hana Matsuri)	The Flower Festival (Hana-matsuri or Kanbutsu-e) is a celebration of Buddha's Birthday. It is not a national holiday. Children traditionally drink ama-cha, a beverage prepared from a variety of hydrangea. People also pour ama-cha on statues of Buddha.
April 29th - May 5th	Golden Week	One of the 3 major holiday period for Japanese along with the New Year and Obon, the Golden Week was thus named because it includes 3 public holidays within on week. These are Green Day (29 April), Constitution day (3 May) and Children's Day (5 May). Depending on the year, these will be more or less conveniently combined with a weekend.
July or August 7th	Tanabata	According the the Chinese legend, a princess and a shepherd fell in love, but were forbidden to meet, except for that day of the year (tanabata), when the two stars Kengyu (the shepherd) and Shokujo (the princess) meet in the Milky Way. Children write poems or wishes on streamers of paper and attach them on special tanabata trees. Tanabata is celebrated on 7 August in some areas of Japan (e.g. Sendai).
July/August 13-15	Obon	Obon is a Buddhist festival in homage to the spirits of the ancestors. It is said that the spirits return to earth during Obon, and lanterns are lit in front of houses to show them the way to their family. Lanterns are then floated on rivers to indicate the way back to the underworld - although the practice is now forbidden in big cities to avoid pollution. Obon is normally held mid-August, but sometimes also mid-July. Many people living in cities return to their hometowns. It is also a busy vacation period, like the New Year and Golden Week, although this applies to all August, not just Obon itself.
Third Monday of September	Respect for the Aged Day	This national holiday traces its origins to 1947, when a town proclaimed September 15 as Old Folks' Day. Its popularity spread nationwide, and in 1966 it took its present name and status. Annually, Japanese media take the opportunity to feature the elderly, reporting the population and highlighting the oldest people in the country.
November 3rd	Culture Day	Culture Day has been a national holiday since the Public Holiday Law took effect in 1948. It commemorates the adoption of the Constitution (which took effect six months later). The date was also a holiday prior to World War II, having been the birthday of Emperor Meiji. On this date, the Emperor awards the Order of Culture to recipients in the Kokyo.
November 15th	Shichi-Go-San or 7-5-3 Festival	Shichigosan is the traditional custom of taking boys aged 3 and 5 and girls aged 3 and 7 to be blessed at the local Shinto shrine to thank for their good health and pray for future blessings. Children are dressed up in colourful kimonos.
November 23rd	Labour Thanksgiving Day	Labour Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday. The law establishing the holiday cites it as an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks. It became an official holiday in 1948. Earlier, it was a harvest festival named niinamesai.
December 23rd	The Emperor's Birthday	The birthday of the reigning emperor is a national holiday. Emperor Akihito was born on this date in 1933. The Imperial Palace in Tokyo is open to the public, and hundreds of thousands of well-wishers wave flags in honor of the occasion.
December 25th	Christmas	All Japanese know Christmas, and decorations in supermarkets and department stores are as obvious as in any Western country, if not more. Some Japanese people buy a Xmas tree and decorate their house, but they are not the majority.