Today in Japan

Sports Day is a national holiday on the second Monday of October. It started in 1966 as Health and Sports Day, to remember the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on October 10th. It got its current name in 2020. Many people go jogging or walking, and some towns hold free sports events.

The Japan Soymilk Association picked this date in 2008. It's a number pun: 10 can be read as "to" and 2 as "nyu," which makes tonyu, the Japanese word for soy milk, and 10 plus 2 is 12. October was also chosen because it's a month when people think about their health. Tofu is made from soy milk, so it's a familiar drink here.

Matsuo Basho, Japan's most famous haiku poet, died in Osaka on the 12th day of the 10th month in 1694, by the old lunar calendar. The day is also called Shigure-ki, after shigure, the cold early-winter showers that fall around that time of year and that Basho loved to write about. In haiku, "Basho's memorial day" is itself a winter season word.