Today is National Foundation Day (Kenkoku Kinen no Hi), a national holiday in Japan. It marks the founding of Japan and encourages people to reflect on the nation’s history and identity. The date of February 11 is traditionally linked to the legendary ascension of Emperor Jimmu, which is said to have occurred in 660 BC.

Anyway, for most people in Japan, the day is just a day off. And as such, outside the supermarket today, there was a blood collection drive.

I’m not sure about what happens in other countries, but in Japan, collecting blood most frequently takes place in a bus, which means that the collection can take place where people are. So you go into the bus, give your blood and that’s it. The other point is that you tend to get some sort of gift for giving blood. It’s nothing that much: normally you get a drink and some sort of snack.

Today, though, they were advertising very loudly and quite proudly that if you gave blood you got a bag of Hiroshima rice. With the astronomical price of rice these days, there’s an incentive if ever there was one!