A Day Off Every Year!

Emperor Reiwa’s Birthday (aka Naruhito)is celebrated every year of his reign on February 23rd. It is customary for the reigning emperor’s birthday in Japan to be a public holiday. Libraries, zoos, museums, etc. are still open as well as convenience, department, and grocery stores. But schools, city offices, banks, and various businesses have a free day!

Emperor Reiwa’s Birthday Tradition

Only on Emperor Reiwa’s Birthday and January 2nd are people allowed to enter the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The emperor and his family present themselves to happy crowds and accept the happy birthday wishes of the people who have come there. The emperor reads a speech acknowledging the birthday greetings of the crowds. The assembled people wave flags both before and after the speech, but not during. People are allowed to looked around the inner grounds of the Emperial Palace a little bit.

What Happened in the Years before celebrating

The Current Emperor Reiwa’s Birthday

Emperors Heisei and Hirohito

A public holiday on the emperor’s birthday has been a tradition ever since the Meiji period going back to the 1870’s. Emperor Reiwa’s father, former emperor Heisei’s birthday (aka Akihito) was celebrated on December 24th. However, since abdicating his birthday has become a regular working day. Emperor Heisei’s father, emperor Showa’s birthday was on April 29th. After he passed away in 1989 his birthday remained a public holiday under the name of Greenery Day mostly because it was convenient to keep a long Golden Week. However, in 2007, his former birthday became another public holiday called Showa Day (his era title) and is formally considered a time to reflect on the eventful years of his reign. Unofficially it is the first day of Golden Week, or a week of closely packed public holidays. In reality probably very few people have a lot of non-fun scheduled time to reflect on him and his reign.

Emperors Taisho and Meiji

Emperor Reiwa’s Birthday was also preceded by his great grandfather. Taisho’s birthday (Yoshihito) was August 31st. During his reign his birthday was a public holiday. His father, emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito) was born on November 3rd in 1852. During his reign his birthday was a public holiday as well known as Tenchō-setsu. But when he died it ceased to be celebrated until 1927, when it was resurrected as Meiji-setsu. In 1948 his birthday was hence forth renamed as Culture Day. It has been a public holiday for thinking about peace and the prosperity brought with it. But museums, zoos, and public parks are also free on this day!

Image Thanks to Philbert Ono – Originally uploaded by en:User:Photojpn.org, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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