Respect-for-the-Aged Day

Monday was a national holiday in Japan. It was Keiro No Hi or Respect-for-the-Aged Day. According to my book “Japan at a Glance”, this day is to express respect for all the elderly folks of the country, to thank them for their contributions to society over the many years, and to celebrate their longevity.

Last week the children worked on a project which the school then sent to their grandparents. Ella and Lucas participated so both Oma Agnes and Opa and Grandma Jessie and Grandpa John will receive something in Japanese which Tim will have to translate for us all.

The kids were happy to have the day off and as we couldn’t visit with our elders we went to Osaka Castle instead. They loved the train rides through the city to get there and they pointed out buildings and advertisements that they thought were interesting. Their favourite was a large red Ferris wheel bridging the top of two skyscrapers.

The castle is surrounded by a forest, then a large wall with an entrance gate, a moat another large wall and a second moat. This design was to confuse enemy. The kids were amazed but wondered if they were ever going to get to the castle itself. There was a Taiko Drum troop practising so we marched to the beat pretending to be Samari until we came to a large square where there were vendors, buskers and a huge crowd.  We entered the re-built castle and explored the museum looking at armour, painted screens depicting the fights and the Golden Tea Room which was stunningly beautiful yet soothing. (Eleanor and I thought we would love to be invited to have tea in there). The kids were a bit disappointed it wasn’t like a real castle on the inside but they were happy to dress up in some period costumes.

We climbed stairs to the eighth floor and saw the view of the city. It was really something. We could also see what the gold creatures on all the turrets were. They were mystical dragon-fish placed all around the original wooden castle to prevent it from burning down. Unfortunately, they didn’t work. 

We played in the old forests around the castle for quite some time before we caught the train home.