Golden Week (黄金周) in the mainland of the People's Republic of China is the name given to two annual 7-day national holidays, implemented in 2000:[1]
- The "Spring Festival (or Chinese Lunar New Year) Golden Week" begins in January or February.
- The "National Day Golden Week" begins around October 1.
A third Golden Week holiday, which spanned May 1 and celebrated Labour Day, existed until 2007.
Three days of paid holiday are given, and the surrounding weekends are re-arranged so that workers in Chinese companies always have seven continuous days of holiday. These national holidays were first started by the government for the PRC's National Day in 1999 and are primarily intended to help expand the domestic tourism market and improve the national standard of living, as well as allowing people to make long-distance family visits. The Golden Weeks are consequently periods of greatly heightened travel activity. [Aside-no kidding!]
An estimated 28 million Chinese traveled during the first National Day Golden Week in 1999.[2] In 2007, this number had increased to over 120 million. [The Patels increased that number by four.]
They are re-thinking these Golden Weeks, but that's another topic.
I was a bad parent (so what else is new?) and pulled H and V out of school for a half-day so we could fly out to Tokyo. We left Sept 30 in the morning.
A blogger's work is never done
In Pudong (Shanghai) International Airport
Since I booked our trip late (now I'm also a bad wife), we had to fly first to Incheon, South Korea. Oh, well. At least we got out of China on a super busy holiday. Did you read how many people travel during the Golden Week? That 120 million probably doesn't include expats.
Our lunch on China Eastern Airline, Shanghai to Incheon, South Korea
I don't think we're on the Bund any more, Toto
Edible and more interesting than an Air Canada meal
Now for the really bad news. We had a five hour layover in Incheon, South Korea before flying on to Tokyo. I know. So we headed to the private Star Alliance lounge. Now you can say you've seen a lounge in South Korea. It's huge! We can cross off another Asian country on our "To Visit" list. Hey! Even a layover counts.
Our trip was sponsored by Apple (I wish!)
Rakesh and I somehow manage to struggle through the long, tedious hours.
The massage chairs helped.
Our view towards North Korea
O.K. I don't know if that really is the Hermit Kingdom, but it could be.
Not our plane, but a cool shot
Our Japanese-style dinner en route to Tokyo
We arrived in Narita Airport, Tokyo in the early evening and were greeted by this when we went to the airport bathroom.
Fortunately, it came with instructions.
Hilarious, I know, and it is definitely a system that takes some getting used to. Sure, we didn't have to indulge in all the features, but you know, when in Rome... Just about every toilet we saw in Tokyo was like this one.
After a long drive from Narita, we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Asia Center of Japan, in the ward of Minato-ku, for those of you who like that kind of detail. The location was great, within walking distance of everything we wanted to see and in a nice neighbourhood, close to the Embassy of Canada, no less!
I had already sold my left kidney for the flights over, so we economized on the accommodations. Rakesh and I altruistically took the smaller of the two rooms. Our room was reminiscent of the cabin I had on a cruise to the Caribbean. Talk about your efficient use of space. We didn't stay in one of those capsule hotels, but this was close. This is the entire room. I took the photo standing at the door. The bed is right up against the wall. Did I mention the location was great?
Wow! What I couldn't get in was the big step up. I definitely felt like I was on a cruise ship.
But wait, this was the best part
In order to divert water to the shower, you had to turn this knob. OK, now I'm not just on a cruise ship, I'm back on Toad V!! The tub was knee deep, but I felt it would be wasteful to take a bath. Next visit I'll just head to the hot springs.
These little tags were on every carpet corner. I asked about them (That's me! Terminally nosey!) and was told that it was the permit for these flammable materials to be used in the hotel. The Japanese are very fire prevention conscious. I guess it's a holdover from the days of living in rice paper walled houses. I'm not sure. Google time!
And we're back...yep, it's a cultural thing. This other blogger writes very well on the topic:
It's not possible to overstate how deeply rooted the fear and respect of fire is ingrained into Japanese culture. Especially for the first couple of thousand years of modern Japanese civilization, the safety of one's house and family was directly related to the fire-prevention habits of everyone else nearby, because if one house caught fire, it would spread to all houses in the area. (Until recently... until maybe 30 or 40 years ago... the vast majority of Japanese buildings were made mostly of wood.) If you made a mistake, thousands would pay, and vice-versa. Despite this ingrained caution, mass conflagrations were apparently common, so the fear was well founded.
The direct fear of mass conflagration is much less now, of course, but you can still see the deep-rooted cultural fear/respect in daily life, from 「火の用心」 (hinoyoujin, be alert/cautious for fire) printed on signs and the sides of buildings all over, to buckets of water still kept at the ready outside many people's houses. Still today on summer evenings, it's not uncommon to hear the resonate sound of someone hitting two thick wood batons together in cadence with a chanted “火の用心”, as a general reminder (during the evening cooking hour, since until recently cooking was always done over a fire?) to be vigilant against fires.
And we're back...yep, it's a cultural thing. This other blogger writes very well on the topic:
It's not possible to overstate how deeply rooted the fear and respect of fire is ingrained into Japanese culture. Especially for the first couple of thousand years of modern Japanese civilization, the safety of one's house and family was directly related to the fire-prevention habits of everyone else nearby, because if one house caught fire, it would spread to all houses in the area. (Until recently... until maybe 30 or 40 years ago... the vast majority of Japanese buildings were made mostly of wood.) If you made a mistake, thousands would pay, and vice-versa. Despite this ingrained caution, mass conflagrations were apparently common, so the fear was well founded.
The direct fear of mass conflagration is much less now, of course, but you can still see the deep-rooted cultural fear/respect in daily life, from 「火の用心」 (hinoyoujin, be alert/cautious for fire) printed on signs and the sides of buildings all over, to buckets of water still kept at the ready outside many people's houses. Still today on summer evenings, it's not uncommon to hear the resonate sound of someone hitting two thick wood batons together in cadence with a chanted “火の用心”, as a general reminder (during the evening cooking hour, since until recently cooking was always done over a fire?) to be vigilant against fires.
There! We all learnt something. I saw those buckets of water at certain public monuments, like General Nogi's shrine, but that's for another day.
So, we arrived safe and sound, had a good sleep and prepared for our first day's adventure in terrific Tokyo.
So, we arrived safe and sound, had a good sleep and prepared for our first day's adventure in terrific Tokyo.
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