Japan Nikkei was wonder why is was closed the last few days

[#1]

so I went o find out...

# Third Monday of September (national holiday)
Respect for the Aged Day (keiro no hi):
Respect for the elderly and longevity are celebrated on this
national holiday.

# Around September 23 (national holiday)
Autum Equinox Day (shubun no hi):
Graves are visited during the week (ohigan) of the Equinox Day.
I am amazed that some cultures have a national holiday to celebrate their elderly, here its kinda just another day like mothers/fathers day etc. Truly inspiring to see the humble side of life when an entire nation can respect their elderly.

[Wizard]

Go and check what they eat: Horse meat, sea weed and a fish that if not cleaned properly u can die from... It's amazing they have elderly people after all!

[#3]

But they age so well!, green tea and dog tongue probably more healthy than P Stuyvesant and Mcdonalds

[klapka]

I read somewhere that out of a population of 127 million - over one million are aged over 90. That's a lot of old folk.

[Wizard]

Yes ... they are actually No 3 in the world behind Macau and Andorra with life expectancy of 82.5 years. South Africa is 209 with 49 years.

[klapka]

I just noticed this on BBC news. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8266677.stm