TOKYO : Japan Shuts Down

This is “Golden Week” in Japan, an annual tradition when business and government shuts down amid a string of national holidays and an estimated 400,000 Japanese travel overseas (and much of the remainder jam domestic trains and resorts).

Monday was “Greenery Day,” Thursday is “Constitution Day,” Friday is a newly invented “Rest Day” and Saturday is “Children’s Day” (known as Boy’s Day in Japan’s male-chauvinist past).

Among those abroad on Golden Week package tours is Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, who is visiting Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent to show Japan’s commitment to providing economic aid to the region.