Nov. 22 came around to being recognized as ¤¤¤¤·ò‹D¤ÎÈÕ (ii f¨±fu no hi, Good Couples Day) in Japan simply because of pronunciation. An old way of counting the number one as ¡°hi¡± and the number two as ¡°fu¡± made the date, 1122, sound kind of like ¡°¤¤¤¤·ò‹D¡± (ii f¨±fu, good couple), and thus a special occasion was born.
Many couples will submit their »éÒö½ì (konin-todoke, marriage registration) on Nov. 22, hoping it will deliver a long-lasting and healthy relationship.
Happy couples are often referred to as ¤ª¤·¤É¤ê·ò‹D (oshidori f¨±fu, happily married couples). And if you look up the kanji for ¤ª¤·¤É¤ê, you may be surprised to see øxø„, the seldom-used characters for ¡°mandarin duck.¡± What¡¯s interesting about this is that ¤ª¤·¤É¤ê actually change their partners.
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