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Japanese holidays

Hut Day is just around the corner in Japan…or is it Hat Day?

Huppy Hut Duy!

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Slacker Appreciation Day — The secret, unofficial Japanese holiday we all want but don’t have:

All thanks to one friendly robot cat from the future. 

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Subway rivals a traditional Japanese sushi roll with its own traditional Japanese BLT

Jared out, luck in!

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Government plan has everyone talking about a 17-day-long New Year holiday

Suga administration hopes everyone doesn’t party quite like it’s 1999 this year.

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What pandemic? Onsen towns, hiking trails and theme parks packed with crowds on four-day weekend

Startling photos have everyone concerned about a possible new spike in coronavirus cases.

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Overworked Japan loses last public holiday of the year, even though it’s still on the calendar

No Country for Old Holidays.

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Licca-chan gets the royal treatment in this gorgeous Doll Festival set

Toy brand Takara Tomy collaborates with distinguished doll maker Kyugetsu to release a limited 2016 edition of the Licca-chan Doll Festival series.

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10 amazing Japanese holidays you won’t want to miss–in February!

Riding on the heels of Setsubun, a day when Japanese people playfully admonish the demons in their houses (no anti-demon spray necessary; it turns out that most Japanese demons quickly flee the house if you throw beans at them), you probably think all the fun for February is gone. Cold, lonely, and demonless, you haven’t left your heated kotatsu table in days. But no worries! February still holds an enormous amount of fun, with plenty of unofficial holidays to warm up for. There’s Manga Day, Bra Day, Cat Day and Mount Fuji Day just ahead! Discover the story behind ‘You idiot!’ Day and the origin of Japan’s postal code symbol revealed on the annual Postal “T” Day. There’s even a day dedicated to Seaweed, Kabuki and Japanese surnames too. And just when you thought the wacky Japanese couldn’t come up with anything more bizarre, we’ll tell you about Listen to the Angels Whisper Day in Hokkaido.

We present you with 10 amazing February celebratory days in Japan that you won’t want to miss.

Ok, let’s jump into February!

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From San-X to Attack on Titan, yummy cake rolls take over Bean-Throwing Festival’s sushi custom

Before you start obsessing over Valentine’s Day plans, let’s turn for a moment to another February whoop-de-do: the Japanese Bean-Throwing Festival or Setsubun. Celebrated on February 3 this year, it’s an intriguing blend of evil ogres and spirits, roasted soybeans, and chomping on a whole baton of thickly rolled sushi while facing in the proper direction. These somewhat disparate ingredients commingle on this day to assure good fortune and health for the year to come.

In recent years, western Japan’s custom of eating a special type of sushi called ehō-maki (恵方巻き, literally “blessed direction roll”) for Setsubun has spread across the nation due to marketing campaigns by grocery and convenience stores; what’s more, the sushi rolls have been evolving into scrumptious cream-filled Swiss rolls! Iconoclastic? Maybe. Delicious? Yes!

So let’s jump on the bandwagon and look into this holiday a bit before drooling over this collection of sushi and their sweet doppelgängers. And Yowapeda fans, I think I spy a Makishima-maki!

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