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5月 5, 2017
Golden Week is almost over!
Yes, over here in Japan, almost the entire country was on vacation for one week, some enjoying time with their family in anonsen, others visiting friends far from home and maybe others relaxing at home.
People get easily sick during this period. Of course, the weather gets warmer and some people don’t adapt well to the change of temperatures. Then there is also Kafunshou (pollen allergy )which is something really annoying for a lot of people in Spring.
But what I want to talk about is something more typical of Japan : Gogatsubyo or literally “May sickness”.
What is May sickness?
First of all, April is the beginning of the new financial and academic year, school kids go back to school and students to university. But it is also during this period that companies hire new people, give promotions and take important decisions. As a matter of fact, April is THE season where new recruits get hired and it is not common at all to start working at another period of the year (although it happens of course, but the job market will be much, much smaller).
For the students and new recruits, April means an entire new life: a new environment, new colleagues, new habits and the stress brought by the job itself.
You have to show your skills and learn your job – it can be quite challenging. Then, after one month, everybody feels tired because of all those new challenges – this is the exact time that the long awaited Golden Week arrives, the most consecutive national holidays in the year.
People can then forget for an entire week, or even more for some, all their concerns about their jobs, new schools and the new environment they had to adapt to. However, the holiday comes to and end and your daily routine continues.
Some people realize at this point that they feel kind of depressed or gloomy and they refuse to go back to work. This is what they call Gogatsubyou in Japan..
What make this special to Japan is the deadly combination of the start of the new fiscal year in April following one month later by the longest series of holidays in the year during the Golden Week!
Look out, maybe there are some people suffering from Gogatsubyo around you ! 😉
Cheer them up and give them a friendly smile. And don’t forget – Obon Holiday is coming up in August!
A reminder to let you know that if you are looking for an accommodation in Japan, our portal JapanRoomFinder.com has plenty of apartments and rooms in share houses available all over Japan. Send us an enquiry if you like one of them.
