{"id":831,"date":"2015-08-08T22:39:48","date_gmt":"2015-08-09T04:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/?p=831"},"modified":"2015-08-05T22:44:03","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T04:44:03","slug":"this-month-in-japan-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/?p=831","title":{"rendered":"This Month in Japan | August"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mount_Fuji_2922131b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-832\" src=\"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mount_Fuji_2922131b-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"Mount_Fuji_2922131b\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mount_Fuji_2922131b-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mount_Fuji_2922131b-481x300.jpg 481w, https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mount_Fuji_2922131b.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"irc_hl irc_hol\" href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/asia\/japan\/10856065\/Japan-creates-new-national-Mountain-Day-holiday-to-ease-pressure-on-exhausted-salarymen.html\" data-noload=\"\" data-ved=\"0CAYQjB1qFQoTCP34sMzSk8cCFceLlAodd50Jew\"><span class=\"irc_ho\" dir=\"ltr\">www.telegraph.co.uk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\">August is here! While August is the month most known for the\u00a0<i>O-Bon<\/i>\u00a0festival, in some parts of Japan,\u00a0<i>O-Bon<\/i>\u00a0is celebrated around early or mid-July. The date depends on the customs of local towns and villages, with the selected date based off of either the solar or lunar calendar.<i>Hazuki<\/i>\u00a0is the shortened form of\u00a0<i>Haochizuki<\/i>, or &#8220;month of falling leaves&#8221; and is the traditional Japanese way to say August. When Japan followed a lunar-based calendar system, Hazuki was the first month that fell in autumn, hence the name \u201cleaf-falling month.\u201d<i>O-Bon<\/i>\u00a0is a Buddhist holiday where Japanese return to their hometowns to visit the graves of their deceased ancestors. While it is a somber occasion, it is also a time for celebrating the life of your family members as you reunite with ancestors whose spirits return at this time of year. A\u00a0<i>mukae-bi<\/i>, or welcoming flame, is lit by families to guide their ancestors&#8217; spirits to their homes. The\u00a0<i>bon-odori<\/i>\u00a0dance is a traditional folk dance performed by villagers during the\u00a0<i>O-Bon<\/i>\u00a0festival. When\u00a0<i>O-Bon<\/i>\u00a0ends, the spirits are sent off with another bonfire, called\u00a0<i>okuri-bi<\/i>. Some regions release small lanterns down rivers or into the sea as part of the\u00a0<i>okuri-bi<\/i>\u00a0ritual.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the migration of Japanese people to different countries, many other places including the United States host\u00a0<i>O-Bon<\/i>\u00a0events and others are encouraged to take part in the festivities. If you are interested in learning the<i>bon-odori<\/i>\u00a0dance, consider joining the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/consulateofjapan.cmail2.com\/t\/r-l-flukjo-drkkhjlluu-dh\/\" target=\"_blank\">Awa Odori Chicago<\/a>\u00a0group!<\/p>\n<p>Best,<br \/>\nAmy Klouse (Editor, Technology and Information Coordinator)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Credits belong to rightful owner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>www.telegraph.co.uk August is here! While August is the month most known for the\u00a0O-Bon\u00a0festival, in some parts of Japan,\u00a0O-Bon\u00a0is celebrated around early or mid-July. The date depends on the customs of local towns and villages, with the selected date based off &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/?p=831\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aapi-communities","category-aapi-families"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=831"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":838,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831\/revisions\/838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}