Morning from Tokyo. Next week is what Japan calls Golden Week - three national holidays in a row. This year, they fall on Wed-Fri, so many will take Mon-Tue off as well, resulting in nine consecutive days off, an astoundingly long vacation in Japan (few would ever take so long off if the calendar didn’t encourage everyone to).

Many will return to their family homes outside Tokyo or go abroad, so bullet trains will be packed and flights will be the most expensive in the year.

Others will enjoy a relatively empty Tokyo, although with tourism open again it’ll be nothing like the past three years.

I’ll be helping my friend fix up his lodge in snow country during the green season!

What’s the longest vacation people take in your country?