November 11th around the world

In Japan there are a some national holidays that have interesting names, like Green Day or Sea Day...
And also in Japan people love to make puns with numbers.

It just so happens that today is one of those days that is used a pun or visual joke of sorts.

November 11th has a more somber meaning in the United Kingdom.
It is known as Armistice Day.

The Armistice was an agreement to end the First World War.
This peace agreement started with a ceasing of all fighting as a prelude to peace negotiations and this began at 11am on 11 November 1918.

On the closest Sunday to November 11th, the country and churches commemorate Remembrance Sunday.
This is usually in the form of a religious ceremony.

People usually wear red poppies as a symbol of remembrance during the week building up to Remembrance Sunday.

In Japan, however, November 11th is known as Pocky Day.
The naming comes from the way the numbers of the date look similar to the Pocky snack which is manufactured by Glico company.

In South Korea, the Lotte maker has a similar snack called Pepero and people sometimes call this day Pepero Day in that country. Although there has been a cultural reaction to the commercial aspect of this trend and some people hope too replace the idea with Garaettok Day (garaettock is a variety of Korean rice cake, formed into a long cylinder shape).