Today is....

During my previous time in Japan, I discovered that the Japanese have many National "days". Whereas the UK, has to deal with the relatively dull No-Smoking Day, the Japanese celebrate days such as "Ocean Day" and tomorrow (January 11th) is "Salt Day".

Yes, you read correctly, tomorrow is Salt Day in Japan. Named as such from back in the 1500's, when a Japanese warlord heard his enemy was low on salt and magnanimously sent him some, salt in those days being a valuable commodity.

Below is a list of some of the "Days" that litter the Japanese calender...

Jan. 7th - Nail Clipping Day

Jan. 15 — Strawberry Day. Like many special calendar days, Strawberry Day was derived by playing with Japanese sounds. Strawberry growers chose the 15th day of the first month to celebrate their favorite fruit because the Japanese word for strawberry, ichigo, can also represent the numbers one and five. Days that follow with similar word/sound links are designated with an asterisk

Feb. 1 — Odor Day. Sponsored by companies that wish for an odor-free world.

Feb. 20 - Allergy Day.

March 3 — Ear Day.

March 8 — International Wives Day. Note that there is no "International Husbands Day."

March 9 — This is a trifecta of holidays, with Escalator Day, Barbie Doll Day and Thank You Day all celebrated at once.

March. 15 - Shoe Day.

April 4 — Yoyo Day.

April 10 — Wife Day.

April 11 — Guts Pose Day. "Guts pose" is a Japanese-English term that refers to a gesture of victory.

April 15 — Helicopter Day.

May 3 — Garbage Day

June 1 — Gum Day.

June 4 — Bug Day
.
June 17 — Belt Day.

Aug. 7 — Nose Day

Oct. 18 — Frozen Food Day.

Nov. 1 — Dog Day. Meanwhile, Cat Day is Feb. 22.

Nov. 3 — Godzilla Day. Godzilla has earned this honor for all the times he's outright flattened Japan. Oddly, this is also Japanese Culture Day.

Nov. 8 — Cutting Tool Day. Cheese Day, is dead ahead, on Nov. 11.

Nov. 10 — Toilet Day.

The entire calendar — in Japanese — is at www.jidousha-shunjuhsha.co.jp/calendar.html

Taken from Japan Times (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090110td.html)