November 3rd is:
Bunka-no-Hi (Culture Day)

A Japanese national holiday on which medals are awarded by the government to those who have made special contributions in the fields of arts and sciences. Winners are not always Japanese; the American Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins—are among past honorees. This is also the anniversary of the announcement of Japan’s current constitution in 1946.

The day was formerly celebrated as the birthday of Emperor Meiji, who ruled from 1868 until his death in 1912, and was the great-grandfather of Emperor Akihito (b. 1933). The years of his reign were a time of turning away from feudalism and toward Western rationalism and science, and were known as the age of bummei-kaika—“civilization and enlightenment.”

Today, this holiday serves to promote the love of freedom, peace and cultural development.

          From Holidays, Festivals and Celebrations of the World Dictionary

Culture
Matthew Arnold

"Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus the history of the human spirit. " 

   From Collins Concise Dictionary of Quotations