Japan: 10 days off for the new emperor, some people are really unhappy



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At the end of April, Japan gives everyone 10 days holiday to celebrate the coronation of his new emperor – but a surprising number of people are not satisfied with this extra vacation.

Last November, the Japanese government approved a bill to create national holidays on April 30, May 1 and 2 to celebrate the rise of Crown Prince Naruhito on May 1. Naruhito's father, Emperor Akihito, is abdicating at the end of the month.

The country already has April 29 and May 3-6 – known as "Golden Week" – a national holiday. Together, this gives 10 consecutive days off.

While some citizens celebrate these very long holidays by booking holidays abroad, many others complain about the lack of child care services and have nothing to do.

The Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito, who will soon be crowned Emperor, in his residence at Togu Palace in Tokyo in February 2019.
Agency of the Imperial House of Japan / Handout via Reuters

Extra time to travel and date …

Travel agencies have seen a dramatic increase in demand for their services, the Japan Times reported in January. The number of bookings for overseas trips has tripled, the interest aroused by luxury cruise ships.

Hideki Wakamatsu, a spokesman for Nippon Travel Agency, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that most of his Golden Week tours had been sold and that many people were there. on his waiting list.

Young people often start konkatsu – the "spousal hunt" – when they go home during the Golden Week holidays, the Japan Times added – and the extra time could give them more time to find a home. partner.

Zwei Co., a leading relationship-setting company in Japan, told the newspaper that it expects new customers during this year's Golden Week and plans to cut some of their services.

Young Japanese will have more time for "spousal hunt" activities when they go home during very long vacations.
Pedro Szekely / Flickr

… or extra tasks and less childcare?

But not everyone is happy with the extra free time. According to a survey by the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, quoted by AFP, 45% of respondents said that they "felt unhappy" for long holidays, while only 35% said they were "happy".

In October this year, many women told an Expedia survey that they feared extra housework because their husbands and children would be at home rather than at work or school, the Japan Times reported. .

Another parent tweeted, according to AFP: "For parents in the service sector, the 10 days of vacation are a headache.Care after school, nurseries – everything is closed."

Workers paid by the day or at the hour will also see their income drop, the Japan Times reported, quoting Haken-union union leader Shuichiro Sekine.

A woman cleans the stairs of an underground train entrance while business men go out to Tokyo on April 3, 2019.
Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty

"It's horrible not being able to negotiate for six business days"

Investors are also worried that a 10-day market shutdown could derail its currency and equity market. The main financial centers have rarely closed so long.

The Japanese Financial Services Financial Agency, the Financial Services Agency, has asked all companies in the country to warn their clients of the possibility of turbulence in global markets and to make sure that they are in a better position. ensuring that their systems could cope with increased activity before and after the holidays, Reuters announced in January.

Currency traders are concerned that their inability to use internal terminals in the office is disrupting their work, and fund managers have stated that they will return their neutral positions to the market by the end of April so that they will be able to do so. avoid vulnerability to market fluctuations, said Reuters.

Yasuo Sakuma, investment director of financial services company Libra Investments, told the news agency: "It's horrible not being able to trade for six business days. We need to adjust our positions before the It's hard to say exactly what I will do then, but I will probably have to make my position neutral before the holidays. "

People have been thinking about the electronic board of a securities firm in Tokyo on April 2, 2019. The Japanese financial sector fears that prolonged vacations will affect the stock markets and the currency.
Koji Sasahara / AP

Japanese workaholics may also struggle to cope

Japan is renowned for its culture of uninterrupted work and its rigid labor market, which has seen hundreds of people die from overwork every year over the past decade.

Workers died of heart failure and suicide because of the toxic work culture. The country even quotes the Japanese term "death by overwork" – "karoshi" – as the official cause of the death of many people.

Earlier this week, the Japanese government enacted new labor legislation to set a legal ceiling on long working hours in an attempt to solve the problem.

Read more: Karoshi: How overwork in Japan killed Miwa Sado and hundreds of people like her

Seishu Sato, a 31-year-old finance employee, told AFP: "To be honest, I do not know how to spend time when we are suddenly given ten days of vacation."

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