If you're like me, the one thing you need at the end of a long run of holidays is . . . yet another holiday.
Thus, in Japan we have Coming of Age Day, which follows New Year's like a mint after a heavy meal. Ostensibly this day has been set aside to celebrate the passage of youth into adulthood, but the real celebrants are those folks in desperate need of just one more day as they slowly wean themselves back to work.
It occurs to me that other Japanese holidays could stand a bit of interpretation as well. It's one thing to have a day off. It's another thing to know why. And it is even one thing more to care. Yet, ready or not, here it comes: an inside peek at the real meanings behind Japanese national holidays.