In which DCist explores the city’s diplomatic portal to the world, highlighting the best adventures to be had.

» November 3: The week in holidays kicks off in Japan with Bunka no Hi, otherwise known as Culture Day! Frankly, this holiday mystifies me. No doubt, you can make a day of celebrating Japanese arts and culture in the District. It might not be too late to book an appointment to visit Ippakutei, the Japanese tea house on the grounds of the Japanese embassy, or grab a table at Makoto. The Freer-Sackler Gallery is exhibiting seascapes by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Japan’s best-known photographer. Japanese bubble tea can be had from Rockville to Annandale.

But come on. Like you need to leave your house to celebrate Japanese culture! All you need’s high-speed tubes and a lax firewall. Bobobo-bo bo-bobo? Japanese Bug Fights? I’m trying to recall a recent day when I didn’t celebrate Japanese culture.

» November 5: “Remember, remember, the 5th of November.” And how could you not, with such a catchy jingle? On Guy Fawkes Day, the British celebrate their favorite would-be domestic terrorist, Guy Fawkes, who in 1605 joined a radical Catholic conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. Fawkes’s primary contribution to the Gunpowder Plot was to turn it into an epic fail — he was caught in the basement with the titular gunpowder — and by so doing lend it his name.

Fireworks are illegal in the District and gunpowder’s hard to come by. Your best bet for celebrating’s probably dinner over pints at Commonwealth before nodding off in your armchair while V for Vendetta plays in the background. That’s a proper holiday, wot.

» November 7: “The October of 1917 did not only change the history of the great country, but also largely determined the path of historical development of the entire humanity,” declared Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, in a holiday address. Europe’s Last Dictator goes on and on about why Belarus celebrates October Revolution Day, but he skips over one glaring question: Why do they celebrate Oktober in November? “Due to the Great October victory,” he continues on, “the dream of many generations of the Belarusians has come true – we have gained an independent state, open for friends.” Pretty sure he’s talking about Barack Obama and his wealth-spreading cohort.

In Russia they celebrate Accord & Reconciliation Day. In Ukraine people will get the day off to observe the Former Anniversary of the October Revolution. It’s a little strange that post-Soviet satellites would celebrate the Moscow revolution that they resisted until victory was theirs; imagine if Philly threw a big party for Jefferson Davis’s birthday. The Russian soul is just dark and complex like that, and you unreconstructed Marxists shouldn’t rob yourself of an opportunity to life a glass of Georgian wine ina toast to the worker. Find that at the Russian Gourmet & Deli in McLean and other locations (but the McLean one’s the best). If Stalin’s favorite wine whets your appetite for alcohol, visit the Russia House to find all sorts of special vodkas.

Flags courtesy www.3DFlags.com.