Labor Thanksgiving Day

~ Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope those of you in America have had a pleasant (and punctual) journey to wherever your family is meeting, and enjoyed your visit. Unfortunately for me, teleportation remains in the realm of science-fiction, and I'll have to spend my Thanksgiving on the other side of the planet.

Interestingly, there is a Thanksgiving Day in Japan...and it's today, November 23rd! The official name of today's holiday is "Labor Thanksgiving Day", and it was originally a harvest festival called "niinamesai" (勤労感謝の日). The modern incarnation was established in 1948 to commemorate the year's labor and production (how Japanese!). It's the one day of the year when people actually look around and say, "Wow, we sure do work hard around here."

I'll be in Tokyo this weekend, so my holiday was mostly spent shopping for supplies. As for my Thanksgiving dinner, it consisted of...wait for it...rice! But it was good rice. ~Oyasumi!