Nagoya during the Golden Week

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The Golden Week starts during the last week of April and goes on till early May.

It starts from April 29 which is the greenery day and ends on May 5 which is the children’s day.
Combined with weekends and kindly employers who give the remaining days of the week off it becomes a long set of holidays.

The Japanese even have a word for it Renkyu, which means consecutive holidays.

Earlier days people used to travel to their homes in the countryside, but with the progress of the Japanese economy record numbers travel abroad every year.

So to make it easier for people to visit hometowns the holidays came consecutively giving enough time for people to spend with their families and travel back.

However it is the best time to be in Japan. In between the extremes of heat and cold , the weather turns actually pleasant for a month and a half.

The pleasant sun-shine is a welcome change from the winter chill, and the few unhurried days between hectic working days provide a break from the daily grind.

The bad news is with hordes of Japanese rushing out of the country it is extremely difficult to get into the country.
Even if you manage to get in it is difficult to roam around and most trains and buses are fully booked and highways are jammed with people either visiting relatives or running off to resorts.

I would have preferred to sit in park and read a book, but armed with my camera I set out to capture the very essence of the Golden Week.

Nagoya may not compare to Tokyo or Osaka in terms of tourist places, but the very
lack of tourist hordes makes it even more enjoyable during the Golden Week.

It is relaxed and the people who stay behind are not in a hurry to get anywhere except maybe grocery shops before the prices become too high.

So when most people were heading out of country, cities, villages in airplanes, ships, cars, I set out inside the city on my bicycle.

If you are surprised by my choice of transportation, then you need to understand that Japan is a bicycle country. You can ride it on footpaths, you can park it anywhere(almost) and it doesnt consume any fuel. Moreover it is healthy.

So if you want to go to some place nearby or want to shed some extra kilos then the bicycle it is.Carry a backback with some water and food and you can go anywhere.

What I wanted to capture was the empty streets, parks and write something about emptiness inside.

I did manage to capture some streets, parks, gas stations and felt empty in my stomach from the effort of cycling.

There was a diary farmer show with cows and chickens on display for those who had not seen the living versions of these animals.

It was funny for me to go to an exhibition to see a cow when we can find plenty on the roads in India but seeing a healthy Holstein reminded me that I would have been ready to go to an exhibition even in India to see this beautiful animal.

However mostly everything becomes quite slow during this period with many restaurants and shops closed with their owners out on vacations.

The photographs captures the lack of people in many areas, however there were photos of places filled with people also.

I have not added those photos due to obvious reasons.

What I missed out catching was the crowds heading out and coming back at the beginning and end of the holidays.But it rained on the day Golden Week ended and I did not feel like going out and getting myself wet for the sake of photography.

As they say all good things come to an end.

So did the holiday period and the wonderful weather associated with it.
The crowds started coming back filling planes, buses, trains and highways.

So back to the routine till the Obon holidays period.

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