Our first day in Tokyo was Monday 12 October - National Sport Day. And I thought Melbourne was the only place crazy enough to designate a public holiday in honour of sport. To be fair, this Japanese holiday also commemerates health, and is probably more about competing in sport and being active, whereas Cup Day is a bit more about ... well, a piss up really.
Health and Sport Day was established in 1966 to commemorate the 1964 Olympics. The Olympics had proved a great bonus for Japan in helping boost the post war economy. Originally the anniversary was always held on 10 October, but in 2000 it was altered to occur on the second Monday in October so as to create a long weekend. And that is because the Japanese are not embarrassed about having 3 day weekends, in fact they relish the idea.
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| Competitors at the Tokyo Marathon |
They have a very sensible law, furikae kujitsu, which translates as the transfer law. The effect of this law, passed in 1948, is that whenever a public holiday falls on the weekend they transfer the day off to the Monday. Additionally, any day that falls between two other public holidays shall also be declared a holiday.
Currently Japan has 15 public holidays, with a 16th having been recently declared by the government. So frankly, I ask, what is all the fuss about the new Victorian Grand-Final-Eve holiday. Rather than complain about it I think it is essential that we embrace the concept and declare Cup Eve a public holiday. Let's face it, the Japanese may well run off with the Cup again this year with stayer Fame Game, from the same stables as 2006 winner Delta Blues, being a strong fancy this spring carnival.
To top off their passion for sport the Japanese are hosting the Olympics again in 2020. We may come back.
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| Road workers stop to do their exercises. |
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