Holiday Madness

by Paul Cipywnyk

This column ran in the June 16, 1991, Asahi Evening News.

Did you have a good time last month during Golden Week? Did you brave the crowds and take a trip, or were you still licking your wounds from the New Year's crush? Are you looking forward to the summer Obon holidays, or have you given up all hope of a relaxing vacation in Japan?

Three times a year, like a horde of lemmings, everyone in Japan swamps the planes, trains and highways. Responding to some primeval urge, all the worker ants hit the road simultaneously and march off on their "holidays."

We read the statistics in the papers with masochistic glee. Fifty, 60, 70 million people traveled somewhere during Golden Week. Fifty, 60, 70 kilometer-long lines of cars jammed the "expressways." We return home exhausted and swap battle stories of how we survived our vacations.

"You spent two hours waiting to get on the chair lift at the ski resort?" That's nothing! I had to stand in line for three hours with my kids for a three-minute ride at the amusement park."

Those lucky enough to get tickets overseas pay double the low season fares and spend more time fighting their way through Narita airport than they spend getting to their destinations.

Why does it have to be like this? Why can't people spread their vacations throughout the year? Because in Japan we have to do everything as a group. No individualism allowed.

Japan must be the only country in the world that is trying to get its people to work less and play more. The average Japanese worked 32 hours less last year than the year before, but still well over 100 hours more than his Western counterpart. The government encourages companies to give employees more vacation time, but employees don't even use all the vacation time they have already.

Why not? Group pressure.

People are afraid of leaving the office while others are working. Vacationing while others work is irresponsible. It show a lack of the proper group spirit. A person can take a holiday when everybody takes their holiday, but heaven help the ingrate who walks into the office with a suntan at the wrong time. Such a free spirit can kiss the fast track goodbye.

Consequently we have two choices. Take a vacation when we feel like it and get ulcers worrying about what our boss and co-workers are saying about us, or join the lemmings on sanctioned holidays and suffer from hypertension while fighting the crowds. With these alternatives, no wonder people don't take more time off.

Come on everybody, let's loosen up! Relax. Live a little. Would it really be so terrible if we took our vacations at different times? Will companies collapse if one worker takes a vacation this week and another worker next week? Will kids fail if they're pulled out of school for a few days.

Why don't we all, as a group of course, make a decision to allow some individualism and freedom of choice? Just think of the benefits. There are 52 weeks in a year and we're using only three of them, at New Year's, Golden Week, and Obon, for vacations. To make the math simple, let's say 52 million of us are forced to vacation during those weeks. But if we used the whole year, only one million people would be traveling any given week.

Can you imagine? No more traffic jams, no high season fares, easy access to tennis courts and golf courses, peaceful mountain trails and open beaches. Pure bliss.

Let's make our 52 groups of a million each, iron out a schedule and hit the road. Happy trails!