I love the seasonality of Japan because it’s based on seasons. Sounds silly, but…

In America there are periods and cycles for clothing, decorations and food. But often they are based on a holiday: Christmas decorations; turkey dinner and all its trimmings for Thanksgiving; Easter bonnets. Some things have no season at all. You can buy blueberries in January in any major US city.

In Japan, the cycles are by season. In summer we see dragonflies adorning things, flavored ices, peaches, and yukata (cotton kimono) with uchiwa (fans) in hand. Autumn brings lots of rustic wooden decorations, simmered foods, nashi, and long pants.

Holidays don’t add much to the mix here. Excepting the New Year, most other holidays are either quietly religious—the Autumnal Equinox is a time to tend graves—or civil holidays with little pomp or ceremony to mark them. Nobody decorates for “Health-Sports Day.” We just take a day off. Posted by kuri at September 27, 2000 06:56 AM