Respect for the Aged Day

The third Monday in September is Respect for the Aged Day or Respect for the Elderly Day.

It is a kind of like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. You go out of your way to be especially respectful to elderly people on this day.
It is something to celebrate that people in Japan can have long lives. In Japan, people celebrate their long lives at each juncture, such as Kanreki.

Kanreki means 60 years-old. The people who become Kanreki celebrate it by wearing a red Chanchanko (a padded sleeveless kimono jacket) and a red hood.

And there are more celebrating years such as Koki (70 years-old), Kiju (77 years-old), Sanju (80 years-old), Beiju (88 years-old), Sotsuju (90 years-old) and Hakuju (99 years-old).

There is no rule of celebrating those years on this day, but it is a good occasion to do so. And of course you can celebrate elderly people who are not of those ages, as well.

You may send a nice card to them or you can take them to a nice restaurant for dinner.

Here is a ranking of things to do.

1.Dinner together
2.Flowers
3.Anything to do with their grand children (if you are a grand child, lucky you)
4.Sweets
5.Saying thinks and Thank-you cards
6.Trips with their family
7.Clothes
8.Gift cards or money
9.Local goods
10.Accessories

Research done by goo (July 2009)
Photo by crschmidt

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