Changing Clothes

Koromogae is the seasonal change of clothes. It came from China in the Heian period as a court custom of changing clothes twice a year. Today the custom is to change from winter to summer clothes around June 1 and from summer to winter clothes around October 1. After Western uniforms came in during the Meiji period, officials and soldiers changed twice a year, and the custom spread to schools and homes.

In the summer of 2005, the Ministry of the Environment began to promote Cool Biz, light office clothing with air conditioning set to 28 degrees Celsius. At first it ran from June 1 to September 30. Later the period changed.

Seven-Three-Zero

On July 30, 1978, Okinawa switched from right-hand to left-hand traffic, on a date set by a cabinet decision of June 24, 1975. Roads were closed from 10 p.m. on July 29 for eight hours. By 6 a.m. on July 30, the rule had become “cars on the left, people on the right.”

Signs and road markings on 4,974 kilometers of public roads had to be changed. Schools and kindergartens drilled the new rule, and television and radio ran programs on it. Most buses were replaced with new right-hand-drive buses. The day is remembered as Nana-san-maru, seven-three-zero.

Rebuilding Every Twenty Years

The main buildings of Ise Grand Shrine are rebuilt every twenty years. The Engishiki, a code of 927, already prescribed it: “The great shrine shall rebuild its main hall, treasure hall and outer offering hall once every twenty years.”

The 62nd rebuilding, the shikinen sengū, took place in 2013. The 63rd is set for the autumn of 2033. Its first rite, the Yamaguchi-sai, which honors the deity of the mountain entrance before timber is cut, was scheduled for May 2025.

Timetable Revision

JR East usually revises its train timetables in March. The 2024 revision took effect on Saturday, March 16, the 2025 revision on Saturday, March 15, and the 2026 revision on Saturday, March 14.

Closing of Official Business

Under a law of 1988, the days from December 29 to January 3 are holidays for Japan’s government agencies. The last working day of the year is called goyō osame, the closing of official business. It is normally December 28, or the Friday before when the 28th falls on a weekend. The first working day of the new year is goyō hajime.

Graduation Song

Aogeba tōtoshi (When We Look Up to Our Teachers) was published in 1884 in the third volume of the Shōgaku Shōka Shū, the songbook for elementary schools. It thanks teachers and says farewell.

In a survey by Nihon Trend Research in January 2022, 800 adults named the songs they had sung at their elementary school graduation. Aogeba tōtoshi ranked second overall, and first among people in their sixties and seventies or older.

Prior Review by the Party

Before the Japanese cabinet approves a government bill, the bill is first approved inside the governing Liberal Democratic Party. This is the jizen shinsa-sei, the prior review system.

The usual view dates it to a letter of 1962 from Akagi Munenori, chairman of the party’s General Council, to Chief Cabinet Secretary Ōhira Masayoshi. One study argues that it began in 1955, when the party was founded and approval by its Policy Research Council became a condition for a cabinet decision on a bill.

The Vice-Ministers’ Meeting

Until 2009, the top civil servants of the ministries, the administrative vice-ministers, met on the day before each cabinet meeting, normally twice a week. They met to settle the items for the cabinet, such as bills, cabinet orders and appointments.

On September 17, 2009, the day after the Democratic Party of Japan government took office, the meeting held its last session, to confirm its own abolition. In 2012, the Abe cabinet renamed an existing liaison meeting of the ministries the Vice-Ministers’ Liaison Meeting.

The Managing Directors’ Meeting

Many large Japanese companies have a jōmukai, a meeting of the managing directors. Unlike the board of directors and the shareholders’ meeting, it is not required by law.

Japanese encyclopedias describe it as the place where matters that the board will formally decide are discussed in substance. There, nearly all important management decisions are made.

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