Golden Week

I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a while. I am just back at work after what the Japanese call 'Golden Week'. Japan is famous the world over for its work ethic. Salary men slog every hour god sends for the good of the group and the company, his family life suffers, his hair falls out, he chain smokes and hits the bottle and those who can't hack it jump in front of a train or end up living in a cardboard box under Shinjuku Station. Despite being allowed a generous twenty or so days holiday a year, most Japanese workers don't take them, at least, not all at once. My friend Steve, who now works for Matsushita Denki, (National Panasonic), informs me that the work force are so insecure and paranoid about their position in the company, that they will never take an entire week off at one go. What he finds is that the Japanese workers will take a Friday or a Monday off throughout the year so as to keep their absence as discreet as possible. Golden week is therefore very important as it is a conglomeration of a number of national holidays that allows people to take almost a week off to be with their families, travel to their hometowns or just kick back and relax.
There has been a lot of discussion in the media recently about the rise of social disorders and disfunctional families in Japan. Teenagers seem to be slipping over the edge into madness on an almost daily basis. Last month a seventeen year old school drop out smashed a four year old boy over the head with a hammer to see what it felt like to kill someone! (the little boy is still in hospital). What is going on in their heads? My guess is that a lot of it has to do with the fact that Japanese society places so much emphasis on fiscal gains and work that young people have very little in the way of parental guidance from parents who are never around and who, if they are around, are exhausted from overwork. What do the parents of such a disturbed child think or do when he stops attending school and his notebooks are packed with scrawlings of murdered people, blood and death? Not much it seems to me. A lot of hand wringing and wrinkled brows, but b**ger all of any real use. THey just don't know where to turn. (of course their first worry is the social stigma of having a family member who, gasp, sees a psychiatrist! Mother faints clean away and father has another double scotch!)
Perhaps what Japan needs most at this time is a few more Golden Weeks throughout the year to allow families to grow together and raise children who will respect their fellow man and other creatures and not turn out as psychotic murderers.
Our Golden Week was quite relaxing as Kaori, Reiko's sister visited us and enjoyed looking after Akira and cooking and cleaning for us. It was a very welcome respite and we thank her from the bottom of our hearts for her generous nature and her cheerfulness. We are looking forward to visiting Kyoto for the school summer holidays and being pampered some more by Reiko's lovely family.