Golden Week and 五月晴れ Sunny Day In May

It is calm and sunny today. Today's weather in Tokyo is like early summer. Sky is blue and clear green leaves are very beautiful. We call good weather in May like today "五月晴れ" (Satsuki bare). Satsuki is name of May for the lunar calendar. May is a month before rainy season (梅雨). I think that May in Japan is most comfortable month.

Golden week, long holidays, begins in Japan. We were looking forward to this week. A lot of people go to a trip. Traffic jam in highways, people in international airports or stations are topics in golden week. Probably you might see some Japanese people in your country in this week. Although swine flu spreads in the world in these days, many people who put on medical mask leaved Japan.
Golden week is a special holiday for Japanese people.
　

Name of 12 months for the lunar calendar

January 睦月(Mutsuki) February 如月(Kisaragi) March 弥生 (Yayoi)
April 卯月(Uzuki) May 五月 or 皐月(Satsuki) June 水無月(Minazuki)
July 文月(Fumizuki) August 葉月(Hazuki) September 長月(Nagatuki)
October 神無月(Kaminazuki) November 霜月(Shimotuki)
December 師走(Shiwasu)

* We seldom use these names in daily life now.