Policeman's / Policewoman's Day in Japan

Today, June 17th, is "Omawari san no hi" in Japan. Omawari san is most commonly translated into "Policeman /Woman", so it is called Policeman's / Policewoman's Day or Day of the Police in English. It is marked on June 17th annually as the police officer profession was born as well as the constable system was first introduced in Japan on June 17th, 1874.

However, unlike many other "Day of....", "Policeman's Day" is a unique in that there are almost no special events held on the day for the occasion. In my experience, the most common way to interact with the police in Japan is at festivals. It is quite common for the police to have a stand at a festival. Moreover, they often have a display of police vehicles such as "patoka" patrol cars and "shirobai" the standard white motorcycles used by the police. 

I don't know why they are called "omawari san". The Japanese for police is "keisatsu" and a police officer is called a "keisatsukan". Meanwhile, a police detective is "keiji". A police station is called "keisatsusho" and a police box is called a "koban". So I often wonder why it is not called "keisatsu no hi" rather than "omawari san no hi"!