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Obon July vs. August 2011/8/22 20:20
From my research, I understand that in the Obon festival is celebrated in July in a few areas (including Tokyo) and in August in most of the country. But it also sounds as if people in Tokyo celebrate the August holiday (businesses closing, etc.).

To what extent do people in Tokyo celebrate during the July dates for Obon? Is it a full-out festival then? A bigger festival than August? Do many other regions near Tokyo celebrate then (e.g., Kamakura, Fuji Five Lakes area)?

Thank you in advance!
by Megan (guest)  

. 2011/8/23 00:41
Megan,

It depends on each family's tradition. By the way, obon is not a celebration. It's a memorial.
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

Thank you 2011/8/23 00:54
Thank you for your answer! I meant no disrespect--my sources (including the Obon page here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2286.html ) refer to it being "celebrated".

I was thinking not of the private practices but of the larger scale public aspects of the festival held by the city or temples--e.g., the dances. Would those be held in July or August or both, in Tokyo and area? Are many businesses closed during the Obon period in either month?
by Megan (guest) rate this post as useful

. 2011/8/23 18:08
I now notice that Oxford E/E dictionary tells us that "celebrate" means "to show that a day or an event is important by doing something special on it" so I suppose it's alright. Sorry about that.

As far as bon dances are concerned, I don't think it's anything regional. The following shows a list of major bon dances throughout the country, but one in Kanto is held in mid July while another in Kanto is held in mid August.
http://www.bonodori.net/zenkoku/zenkokunakatobira.html

I personally have never paid attention to see if dances are held in July or August. I simply watch out for notices each year. But usually a certain temple or a certain organization will do the dance on a similar date every year so that neighbors would know what to expect. Same goes for firework festivals, by the way.

As for business, when we say that a certain business is on its "obon-yasumi (obon vacation)" it usually means mid August. The idea is that most organizations in that industry close because their business partners are closed and can't do business. We also notice that a lot of small shops and restaurants closing for 3 or 4 days mainly during this period, although many are still open.

However, most workers are free to take "natsu-yasumi (summer vacation)" on a random date. If you watch TV, you might notice hosts of shows saying that a certain regular member is taking summer vacation on one week and another regular member taking vacation on another week or even another month.

Hope this helps.
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

. 2011/8/24 07:24
That helps a lot--thank you very much!
by Megan (guest) rate this post as useful

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