• 20 . 03 . 05

  • Another national holiday for the Japanese, which they use to purchase handkerchiefs to cope with their allergies.

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Nothing To Sneeze At

Today is apparently the Spring equinox in Japan which means yet another public national holiday. The Japanese may work incredibly long hours and be culturally restricted from taking paid vacations, but having a long weekend every three or four weeks certainly must help. I guess its needed to catch up on all that sleep that they don’t get.

Apparently, at the equinoxes people’s ancestors come back to visit them in the form of spirits, which once again means a trip out to the local shrine to pray for love, health and wealth. In fact, most of the people I spoke to weren’t intending to go and pray this time because of their allergies – 50% of Japanese people are reported to be allergic to pollen which means there are a lot of tears at this time of year! Obviously, no-one has thought of going to the shrines to pray for protection from allergens…

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