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Jul 3, 2026

A day for 'nami' in Japan

Using a bit of 'goroawase', a pun on the readings of digits, July 3rd can be read as "na (7) mi (3)."  As such, there are at least two different "nami" anniversaries in Japan annually on this day.


The two I know of are Wave Day 波の日 and Tear Day 涙の日. The first, "Wave Day", is as you might expect, a day to evoke the sea. The aim - to get more people interested in the sea and "catching a wave", i.e. surfing.


The other, "Tear Day" is a little different to what you might expect. It is a day to raise awareness of Dry Eyes. Because an eye without a tear, is a dry eye! 


Together, they show the difference in meanings of words with the same sound. As a nonnative speaker of Japanese, when someone refers to "Nami no HI" I personally wouldn't know without context which day they were referring to! Would you?


A day for 'nami' in Japan photo

BigfamJapan

BigfamJapan

Former nickname was "Saitama". Changed it to save confusion on place review posts! Irish, 20+ years in Japan! I also write on my personal website: insaitama.com


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