October is here, and that means a few things in Japan. First of all, it's the designated time for koromo-gae or "clothes-changing," when everyone in the country suddenly switches from summer to winter mode, including every student changing from summer to winter school uniform on the same day, from Okinawa to Hokkaido. As a gaijin -- which literally means "outsider" after all -- I could never get into this seasonal rhythm and would wear shorts and short-sleeved well into November (crazy rebel that I am) causing everyone around me to constantly ask me if I was cold no matter what the temperature actually was. October is the mirror of April, the season of beautiful cherry blossoms, and in this month you can enjoy koyo ("crimson leaves") as the trees gradually change color. It's also the month for tsukimi, or moon-viewing, which has been a good excuse to eat Chinese dumplings and drink sake while you take in the beauty of the full moon ever since the Heian Period (794-1185). October 3rd is the most popular time for moon-viewing, called juugo-ya, which is incidentally the night Princess Kaguya returned to her home in the Kingdom of the Moon in the classic Japanese fairy tale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, which served as the basis for the film E.T.
October 1st is the day to change from summer to winter clothes.
6 comments:
So do they have this in countries where you have school uniforms? An official day when everyone changes uniforms at the same time. In America (at least California) uniforms were totally unknown so I only have Japan to judge from.
My high school didn't have "uniforms" per se, but a lenient dress code. White polo shirt, navy or khaki slacks for the guys, white blouse and slacks or skirt for the girls. Also there was the option of a school sweater or sweatshirt you could wear over everything.
As far as seasonal wear, the school did have a day everyone had to switch to long-sleeved shirts, but I seriously doubt that was coordinated with other schools. Actually, mine was a private school, and most public schools in the area still don't have dress codes/uniforms.
It's about 15 years since I graduated, but there was a uniform at my school (UK), consisting of trousers, shirt, tie and optional jumper/sweater - it was the same all year around, although on really hot days we were allowed to ditch the ties. In the winter we wore coats outside, which were just whatever coat you wanted to wear, nothing to do with the uniform.
Something that I've wondered - the TV show 'Lost' is on in Japan, right? In English, the mysterious island natives the castaways encounter are referred to ominously as "the Others". In the Japanese translation, do they just call them Gaijin? (Outside people?) I guess it would explain their strange, irrational behaviour...
Ian, thanks for the comments. I guess the UK isn't too extreme weather-wise. Japan is ridiculous, basically going from Venus to Mars temperature-wise over the course of the year. Well, that's my (San Diego-spoiled) estimate ^_^
Lost is quite popular here. It's available as a rental and people can choose dubbed or subbed versions, and on TV it's shown dubbed but you can turn off the Japanese and turn on the English. I am pretty sure "Others" is just rendered using the English word in katakana, アザーズ azaazu.
Eh...wrong Peter. The inspiration for E.T. came from an imaginary friend Spielberg created as a child after his parents divorced.
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