Children's Day

Today, May 5, is Kodomo no Hi こどもの日, or "Children's Day", formerly "Boys Day."
It is the last of a three-day holiday known in Japan as "Golden Week."
While most of the folks from Osaka and Wakayama City clog the roads and byways to get to the nextdoor beach resort town of Shirahama, we plan to visit my wife's mother (Grandma, or "Bah-ba" to the kids) and avoid the crowds.
Often, Japanese people display a kabuto かぶと, or decorated helmet for their boy children.
Also, long, colorful streaming carp banners, koi nobori こいのぼり, literally "climbing carp" are flown from a pole signifying a wish for long healthy life for all the children in the family, although it used to be just for boys.
We have a small helmet I received from my studens many years ago even before I was married. It would probably fit the head of a cat or chihuahua!
But, in place of the banners, we have a single, silk poster banner, ornately painted in blue, red, and gold, also a gift from students, that we hang on the wall.
Sometimes children receive gifts on this day, although not like Christmas. My son got a new bicycle as he finally learned to ride a couple months ago. And my daughter scored accessories for her Popo-chan dolls.
We'll probably eat some traditional kashiwamochi 柏餅, a kind of cake with mashed sweet bean paste called adzuki wrapped in a soft, white rice cake layer, all enveloped in a kind of oak leaf, according to Japan at a Glance, Kodansha International Publishing.
I'm holding out for pizza from Old Chicago's! (I kid you not. We have delivery here!)