Tag: Holidays

Happy Golden Week 2025

Happy Golden Week to readers!

The first week of May in Japan has an interesting phenomenon in the modern calendar called Golden Week (gōruden uīku, ゴールデンウィーク): a series of national holidays that line up very closely. Thus, people often take vacations at this time (a rarity in Japanese business culture), and enjoy the fine weather before the monsoon comes. I wrote about Golden Week in more detail here.

You can see on our home calendar how the holidays (in red) line up:

My sister-in-law in Japan often takes this time off, as do many other Japanese business and white-collar workers. It may be the longest vacation they take in the year, apart from Japanese New Year.

As part of Golden Week, Childrens Day, or Kodomo no Hi (子供の日) also takes place every May 5th. I’ve written about that as well. We have taken out our usual yoroi armor display:

The Pokemon toys and dragons are just my son’s toys (he should clean up more 😋).

I am not sure if we can get kashiwa-mochi this year, as Japanese goods are getting harder and harder to obtain lately, and our schedule is chaotic this week anyway, so I am not sure exactly how we will celebrate. I do know that we will go see the Minecraft movie for a third time in theaters, though. My son and I really enjoy it, and it’s nice to see all the kids yelling certain parts of the dialogue in unison.

I wish I could post more, but as alluded to earlier, I will be away for about a week, and haven’t been able to write more due to work and other competing priorities. However, I hope you all have a terrific Golden Week, and can enjoy the weather in some way. I have other great content coming up, both historical and Buddhist, so please stay tuned, and take care!

P.S. Golden Week also serves as a reminder that what many modern workers need isn’t just equitable pay, but also time off. Happy May Day! ✊🏼

Happy Holidays 2024

Spock sitting in an orange room, facing right, his fingers steepled as he meditates on a problem.

On my planet, to rest is to rest — to cease using energy.  To me, it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass, using energy, instead of saving it.

Spock, “Shore Leave”, stardate 3025.2

Dear Readers,

Wishing you all a restful end of year, and a happy 2025!

I am going to take the next couple of weeks off myself and recharge, spend time with the family and so on. But, I also have a personal to-do list I made for myself to capitalize on the downtime and get some things done, including:

  • Finishing a novel I’ve been reading
  • A bit more Buddhist practice
  • Finishing the next installment of the Journeys of Xuan-zang (part 5 is interesting, but taking way longer than expected to finish)
  • A couple bonus projects if I have time.
  • A bit of studying

So, unlike Spock, I’ll be probably busy, but also productive on a personal level. I mostly gave myself some really easy “softball” goals so I don’t burn out on my time off, but then again, maybe I should trim this list down and have more time to just space out.

I’ll let you all know in 2025. Until then, take care!

P.S. Related post from a few years earlier.

Holiday FOMO Sucks

FOMO, the feeling of missing out, can happen any time, but it feels like the holidays really exacerbate this feeling.

This year my wife and I chose not to go to company holiday party. It is a 21+ event that my company hosts, and is a big social event around the workplace, but since my kids obviously can’t go, we felt that we’d rather stay home and enjoy our time as a family than leave the kids at home just so the parents could have fun.

The notion of skipping the party got some odd looks from people at work, but generally people were supportive (while obviously planning to go themselves).

But the Monday after the party, I was inundated with post-holiday party discussions, anecdotes, photos on the company social media, and so on. Even if no one intends it, it’s grating to be constantly reminded of all the fun people had while I chose to miss out.

I willingly chose to stay home and hang out with my kids, and I don’t regret that, but I also don’t enjoy the feeling that everyone else celebrated anyway without me. Selfish, but still.

This also goes for the holidays themselves. I grew up Christian, but in my teens and 20’s I left that behind1 and eventually took up the Buddhist path. For most of the year, I have no qualms about this, but then every Christmas and Easter, I feel a pang of FOMO. Maybe it’s because I grew up with Sunday school, and the old biblical stories still have a place in my heart,2 or maybe it’s because holidays just aren’t prominent in the Buddhist faith. I don’t know. But every year I miss it, then when the holiday passes, I am back to my old self.3

It feels sometimes like someone who’s exiled themselves, and looking back at everything they have missed.

But when I think about it, it’s something I willingly left behind, and am glad for doing so. From a personal growth and theological standpoint, I feel like Buddhism was much more helpful to me, even with all the twists and turns I’ve gone through over the years. It’s hard to imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn’t had the encounters I did. It’s a lonely path sometimes, especially living in the West, but I am glad I chose it.

Namu Amida Butsu

Featured image: Yoshitoshi block print from 100 Aspects of the Moon, depicting Abe no Nakamaro overseas in China viewing the moon and longing for home.

P.S. Speaking of holidays, enjoy the Maha Santa Claus Sutra.

1 I am sure someone reading this will eventually want to ask “why”, and whether I’d consider coming back. Short answer is “no”, and save your breath. That ship sailed a long time ago.

2 It’s hard to explain. It’s not something I personally believe in, I just enjoy imagining the time and place, maybe in the same way I feel about reading Tolkien or something. Or, I miss it the way I miss Christmas as depicted in the Peanuts cartoons: something that’s idyllic, but doesn’t actually exist.

3 I even picked up the Bible a couple times over the years and read through some old, familiar chapters, but they feel hollow to me now with the benefit of perspective. The Dharma is just so much deeper and meaningful to me now.