What day is the 4th of April in Japan?

Updated: May 10, 2023

Do you know what day is the 4th of April in Japan? Those who have read some of articles about the dates in Japan before might start to think, "hmm, how do they say "4" in Japanese?"

4 in Japanese can be pronounced as "yon" or "shi". 4th of the month of 4, yon-yon? Doesn´t make much sense, yo-yo? possible, shi-shi? well they are not Spanish...

Some say that the 4th of April is the day of Dorayaki (どら焼き) because it´s in between the 3rd of March (Girls´Day) and the 5th of May (Boys´Day), moreover everyone likes Dorayaki. I´m not convinced...

Some say that it´s the day of Happiness. Why?

Because as 4 can be pronounced shi in Japanese and the day as two 4s, 4+4=shiawase. Awaseru (合わせる) in Japanese means put two things together, 4+4 can be thought put 4s together then in Japanese shi awase(ru). Shiawase means happiness in Japanese. This is more convincing.

Another theory is the day of Anpan (あんぱん). Anpan is a Japanese sweet bread with azuki paste inside. Apparently this bread has a long history.

In 1875 (Meiji 8) the Meiji Emperor had a visit to the Mito Han (Mito Clan/ 水戸藩), they decided to serve pure Japanese bread made by Kimura-Ya (木村屋) instead of usual Japanese traditional sweet from Kyoto. And it was Anpan with pickled cherry blossom flower in it.

My guess was right! The 4th of April is the day of Yo-Yo too.

We´d practice Yo-Yo when I was little. I even had one with the light built-in and as it spun faster, the light grew brighter. Oh, how I thought it was so cool.

I´ve also found this article in Asahi news on line. Saga city (佐賀市) has decided this day as Sicilian rice day as 4 can be pronounced as shi in Japanese and they play with the sound of "Sici" as "shi-shi" with two 4s line up on the 4th of April.

Sicilian Rice was born about 30 years ago in Saga city and is a very simple dish which is the salad and stir-fried meet on top of a bowl of rice with mayonnaise sprinkled.

Apparently it´s been four years since

Sicilian Rice became official and Saga city built a Sicilian Rice Kingdom this year. How curious. Those who want to try Sicilian Rice, you can see how to cook from HERE.

Which story convinces you more?

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