May 5 is one of the national holidays in Japan. It is kodomo no hi (こどもの日), Children's Day. It was established in 1948.
It was used to be a boy's festival. It is also called tango no sekku(端午の節句). Families with boys display a helmet replica called kabuto (兜) inside the house and fly koinobori (鯉幟), carp streamers outside. The carp (鯉：koi) is thought to be a lucky fish symbolizing success in life. Special treats on this day are chimaki (粽), a rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves and kashiwamochi (柏餅), a rice cake wrapped in a oak leaf with sweet adzuki bean paste inside(see the picture). Kashiwa (柏), oak leaves do not fall until the new buds come out, therefore this symbolizes the prosperity of the offspring.
In Japan the number of children has been decreasing since 1982 for 28 years straight. This year renewed the least number in the past. There are 17,140,000 children under 15 years old which is 110,000 less than last year. Boys are 8,780,000 and girls are 8,350,000. The percentage of children of all the population in Japan is 13.4% which is one of the worst rates in the world.
Today is rikka (立夏), the first day of summer. It is one of nijyushisekki (二十四節気), the 24 solar terms. The last one was kokuu (穀雨) on April 20 and the next one is shoman (小満) on May 21.
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