Midori no Hi (みどりの日) is Greenary Day. Greenary Day is kind of like Arbor Day or Earth Day and occurs every May 4th. It’s a day to respect nature and to spend time outdoors. People take family outings to public gardens and take a stroll in the fields. Of course, the majority of people just like to have the day off from work.

This whole day originated from the desire to name it after the late Emperor Shoowa (昭和天皇). However, the Emperor isn’t so popular in other countries, so the Japanese government felt it would be best just to name it Greenary Day. Supposedly the Emperor loved plants and so the day is supposed to indirectly refer to the Emperor.

Well turns out that the government decided to name a day after the Emperor, and just added Greenary Day for Golden Week. Golden Week or gooluden uiiku (ゴールデンウィーク) is sometimes called Oogata renkyuu (大型連休) or Oogun Shuukan (黄金週間). Golden Week (ゴールデンウィーク) describes a string of holidays that provide people the opportunity to travel or take a vacation from work.

Golden Week (ゴールデンウィーク) is a busy time in Japan. Many of the flights are booked and filled to capacity. If you do manage to get a ticket around this time, it’s going to be way more expensive than any other normal time of the year. One piece of advice I can give you, is that it’s a good idea to book a flight early. That way you don’t have to compete for a seat and pay outrageous prices for it.