Cultural Tips-Health-Sports Day

In 1964, the Olympics took place for the first time in Tokyo, which was also the first for Asia.

To mark the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, October 10th, 'Health-Sports Day', was designated as a national holiday in 1966. The aim was to promote sports and an active lifestyle for a healthy mind and body.

In celebration of this holiday, many Japanese schools, and towns hold sports day events, including three-legged race, beanbag toss, and tug-of-war.
Later, in 2000, due to the implementation of the 'Happy Monday' initiative, this holiday moved to the second Monday in October.

'Happy Monday' is a system where people are encouraged to take three consecutive days off from Saturday to Monday, moving some national holidays to Monday.
However, some people have criticized the fact that public holidays marking historical events have to ve moved to unrelated dates.

Health-Sports Day this year was October 14th and next year, 2020, when we will have the second Tokyo Olympics, the opening day will be on Friday, July 24th.