12: Sports Day ( Second Monday of October )
On the second Monday of October the Japanese celebrate Sports Day (体育の日Taiiku no Hi ). The aim of this holiday is to foster healthy minds and bodies through physical activity. Sports Day was established as a national holiday in 1966, in order to commemorate the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The holiday was originally held on October 10, which was the day the Olympics started, but in 2000 the Happy Monday System moved it to the second Monday of October, creating a long weekend.
Even though Tokyo hosted the “summer” Olympic Games, the games only took place in autumn, from October 10th till 24th. Reason for this was the rainy, humid and unstable weather in Japan during summer and the beginning of autumn. October was a time when the humidity of summer had passed, when typhoons most likely had stopped coming and when the weather was nice and just right to accommodate athletes from both warm and cold countries.
Since then Sports Day has most of the time been blessed with fine weather, to the great joy of many people. On Sports Day many sporting events are held, such as the sports days in schools.
