Tomorrow is Children's Day, the politically correct way to say "Boys' Day." This is not to say that girls don't have a special day. The Doll Festival was March 3, but is not a national holiday like Boys' Day is.
On Boys' Day, I mean Children's Day, families with boys hang giant carp windsocks on flag poles in front of their houses. The number of carp hanging shows how many boys are in that household. Why carp? Because carp are known for their strength swimming upstream.
Although I think the flying carp are beautiful, it strikes me as odd to subject a fish to such an adverse environment. Fish live in water. So, admit it -- those carp are dead. And probably very smelly. So the real meaning of these kites is that boys are like dead, smelly fish, closer to the English nursery rhyme that says boys are made of "snakes and snails and puppy dog tails." If boys are truly strong like carp, let's see those boys swim upstream in May!