31.4% plan no summer break

I can't imagine something more horrible than passing the Japanese summer without any holiday. I'm an European and it was difficult enough for me to adapt to a life without one month holiday. I will take one week off, which is a bit short, but too much work piling up...

willynilly - I very much doubt a survey carried out in Tokyo was conducted in English. As you say, 'visit the graves of lost loved ones' is very English and I'm sure it does bring up lots of hits on google. But if I were a gambling girl I'd put money on what the people said they were going to do was お墓参り - visiting the ancestral family graves - not only the graves of recently-departed loved ones, but also the graves of people long dead whom they never knew but to whom they have a blood tie. As we can see from the first two comments on this thread, 'visit the graves of lost loved ones' does not have the same connotations.

Back on topic...

In the spirit of austerity, Mrs.Dent and I will be train travelling to a bordering prefecture for 2 nights and a maybe a reasonably priced restaurant or two. Whilst by no means are we in dire financial straits, we are happy to forgo any major frivolity if we know that it will mean sleeping a little easier (and no, I am not talking about the humidity)

'Lost loved ones' sounds a bit like cheapo translation services again

I wouldn't take that "cheapo translation" very serious since "visit the graves of lost loved ones" is very English and this site is VERY English. Google or yahoo serach "visit the graves of lost loved ones" and you'll get an outstanding 10 million plus hits.

"Visit ..." or "visiting ancestral graves", on the other hand, generates less than half a million hits in a search engine. Cheapo sounds like an awful cheap shot for something so common. Anyway, glad so many are staying here. I'm leaving Japan to visit lost loved ones, BTW. Looks like my Tokyo electric bill will be cheapo this summer

In that case it sounds not that absurd.

Perhaps, i don't get it in the right way?

O-Bon, the Festival of the Dead (When the dead are said to return to their homes for a period of three days), occurs in the middle of the summer holidays (July or August, depending on the region). Hence the reference to visiting graves, it happens every year and doesn't necessarily have any connection with the earthquake and tsunami, except that the First O-Bon after a person's death is considered a bit special. And there'll be some 25,000 extra first-time returnees this year.

It's usually ancestral graves. 'Lost loved ones' sounds a bit like cheapo translation services again.

I believe that is what they mean by graves. But it says "loved ones" not "partners" so this could mean relatives, grandparents, parents, cousins, or even maybe distant relatives that were affected by the Earthquake and Tsunami.

12.3% said they will visit the graves of lost loved ones Everything except this looked normal. I did not expect so many young people to have lost their partners. Perhaps, i don't get it in the right way? They mean grave like grave, at a cemetry?