Japanese Golden Week.. Is it really that Golden?!

"Golden week" might not make any sense to you unless you somehow are familiar with Japan or Japanese holidays. For that is exactly what it is, unbelievable as it seems, a whole week of Japanese holiday.
As a Norwegian I must admit that I'm used to long holidays, both during summer, winter and a couple of weeks in between. In Japan, as you might already know, this is however not the case. Especially for people who have started working there are not to many times during the year where they actually have enough days in a row to take what you could call a real holiday. Supposedly that is why the Golden Week is such a "golden" thing: give them a week off and they are basically in the seventh sky. Along with the prices for hotels, transportation tickets and number of people in that temple you wanted to visit, because they seem to skyrock too.
I would also have liked to have a nice and long Golden Week without any school at all, as is the practice for most Japanese schools. But Ritsumeikan is known as a university where you get few holidays, and for good reasons. This year our "golden week" gives us a total of two days vacation from school, and in return we have to make up for the lost classes by coming to school a couple of Saturdays in May. I don't know about you, but I do not find that all too golden to be honest..
But there is still one aspect of Golden Week that makes it live up to its name. The fact that one gets the chance to spend time with their loved ones. Tomorrow my boyfriend, who has been working in Ibaraki since the beginning of April, will come to spend his GW in Kyoto. There is absolutely nothing that could have made my Golden Week more Golden then that. <3

Have a super Golden Week!

Golden sunset in Japan..!

About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.