In Japan weekdays are from Monday to Saturday, even though an increasing number of companies do not work Saturdays. If a public holiday occurs on a Sunday, then the next day that isn't already a public holiday becomes the day off. If a public holiday falls on a Saturday, as was the case with Midori-no-hi on April 29th this year, then there is no benefit to those people who were already going to enjoy a day off work on the Saturday.

The Golden Week holidays were created in 1948 during the Allied Occupation (1945-52) when economic conditions were tough, and holidays practically non-existent. It is believed that the term "golden week" came from the entertainment industry (theaters, motion picture halls, gambling parlours etc) as revenues grew sharply during these days off work. There wasn't much else too do. Travel within Japan was extremely expensive, and in many cases travel infrastructure was still war damaged.

During the long postwar "economic miracle", especially during the "golden sixties", the holidays became extremely popular for travel. The key attraction was not just the length of the holidays, but also the lack of social obligations. Although Japan is fairly urban, it has only recently become so, and many families are obliged by tradition to return to ancestral homes to attend to graves and relatives during the August Obon festival and New Year holidays. No such obligation existed for early May, so Japanese people could (finances permitting) travel to wherever they wanted without having to worry about social ostracism.

The heavy investment in infrastructure that accompanied the boom, such as the expressways and high speed trains funded in part through soft loans underwritten by the World Bank (Japan was still eligible for loans at the time) ended up creating the amazing bumper to bumper traffic jams, congested airports, and massive crowds making modern day Golden Week a stressful, uncomfortable and expensive experience for those who travel, and a little bit dull (a lot of places are closed) for those who don't. The congestion isn't neccesarily confined to roads near large cities, an acquaintance travelling from Sapporo to Hirosaki in Aomori for a bit of hanami, described the long tiring trip as zerohakufutsuka, a pun loosely translatable as "2 Days 0 nights" instead of the more usual ippakufutsuka. It was the first time I'd seen the expression. The crowding isn't restricted to Japan either. As Golden Week is often the longest holiday period of the year and the best for travel, resorts in areas popular with Japanese tourists are more expensive (and often booked out) - it can be pretty difficult to get a ticket out of Japan around this period sometimes, so if studying up until the end of May secure your seats.

Depending on the nature of the business or organization, there is some flexibility with the arrangements. Public employees and others (banks etc) often take paid leave on the intervening days between April 29th and May 3rd, while some manufacturing concerns close down altogether to simplify just-in-time supplier systems or for unusual maintenance or retooling. Schools are usually closed, though in 2006 Yamasa had classes in the AIJP/AJSP stream in order to maintain 243 classes for the spring quarter (the SILAC stream enjoyed the holiday). The International Office just kept working since overseas inquiries don't stop, and the staff prefer to take holidays later in the year.

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