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Thursday, November 5 (archive)

Today in Japan

Watercolor of rice topped with a raw egg, rolled omelet, eggs, apples, and a red-and-white knotted cord, with an Izumo shrine rope and a Kurashiki art museum and canal in the background

What day is it?

  1. Good Connections Day縁結びの日

    November 5th is Good Connections Day, a pun on the numbers: 11 is ii, or good, and 5 is go, as in goen, a connection between people. It comes from Shimane, home of Izumo Taisha. Gods from all over Japan are said to gather there around this time of year, in the tenth month of the old calendar, to decide who will meet whom.

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  2. 2010年制定Good Egg Dayいいたまごの日

    November 5th is also Good Egg Day, from ii, or good, and tamago, or egg, read from the numbers 11 and 05. Egg industry groups set it up in 2010. Eggs show up everywhere in Japanese food, from rolled omelets in lunch boxes to tamago kake gohan, raw egg stirred into hot rice.

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  3. 1930年The Ohara Museum of Art is completed大原美術館が完成（岡山県倉敷市）

    On November 5th, 1930, the Ohara Museum of Art was completed in Kurashiki, Okayama. A local businessman, Ohara Magosaburo, founded it in memory of his friend, the painter Kojima Torajiro, who had chosen Western paintings in Europe for the collection. It was the first private museum in Japan to focus on Western art, and it has works by Monet and El Greco.

If someone asks you

Q

Why do people go to Izumo to pray for love?

A

Izumo Taisha is famous for enmusubi, which means tying connections. The god there is linked with bringing people together. There's also a legend that in the tenth month of the old calendar, gods from all over Japan meet at Izumo to plan people's relationships. But en isn't only about romance. People also pray for good friends, good coworkers and good business partners.

In season Apples りんご Late autumn is apple season in Japan. Fuji, the most widely grown variety, is picked from late October into November. Aomori in the north grows more apples than any other prefecture. Japanese apples are often big and sweet, and many people peel them and cut them into pieces before eating.
Micro-season 54 of 72 楓蔦黄もみじつたきばむ Maples and Ivy Turn Yellow Maples and ivy turn color. Japanese has a word just for going to look at autumn leaves, momijigari, literally "maple hunting."

Phrase of the day

It was really nice meeting you.

Sentence of the day

Today is about good connections, good eggs and good art. In Japan, en means the ties between people, and it covers friends and coworkers as well as romance.

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Sources

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