Today is Respect for the Aged Day. Once Japan was criticized for not having enough holidays. Now, with New Year's for winter celebrants, O-bon in the summer, Golden Week in the spring and an assortment of traditional and recently created special days in between (with Mondays off if they fall on Sunday), we have a wide selection. So get out and do something. If you are elderly, perhaps someone will get up and offer you his seat. There is even a festival you can go to, and if you are new to Tokyo, it will be a good introduction to Japan's old culture. There will be a parade of portable shrines throughout the neighborhood from around 1:30 p.m. until 3 or 4 p.m., and at night, bon dancing from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Ana Hachiman is a five-minute walk from Waseda Station on the Tozai Line -- just follow the crowds along decorated streets. Tokyo's last streetcar line ends at Waseda. Ride to the other end of the line and you will pass through much of old Tokyo.
Recently, I wrote of Eloise Cunningham whose Music for Youth program has been introducing children to the classics since the postwar days. Cunningham will be celebrating her 100th birthday this year. She told me what a good country Japan is to grow old in -- there are so many programs and services to aid and entertain the elderly. She, however, is too busy helping young people appreciate good entertainment, a world beyond manga and video games. Take children to see the Saiga Ballet in a presentation of "Ivan and the Little Horse," based on an old Russian folk story Oct. 15, 10:30-11:30 a.m. at Jido Kaikan near Shibuya Station. The music was composed by Rodion Shchedrin, a leader among Russia's new generation of composers. Call (03) 3400-3386 10 a.m.-1 p.m. for an order form. Children's tickets are 2,000 yen, adult's, 3,000 yen.
Another institution for you to add to your list of places to visit is the Yokohama Archives of History. It is located on an historic site, where the first treaty of amity, the Treaty of Kanagawa, was signed in 1854 between the U.S. and Japan. The museum's extensive archives, with a wealth of information relating to the opening of Japan and the Port of Yokohama in the mid-19th century, are open to researchers. There are also exhibits from those early days that show us how people reacted to the changes.