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| English | Japanese | |
| five | = | go |
| ten | = | to |
| day | = | hi |
But what does gotobi mean?
Day numbers ending in 5 or 0; i.e. 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th 25th and 30th are go-to-days, and often used by companies for scheduling financial settlements, salary payments, etc. A span of five days tends to be a useful period for streamlining business practices.
The downside for most people is the long queues at ATMs on gotobi day as more people withdraw cash. Also roads become more congested with traffic as sales people race for new customers.
Gotobi is not a superstition, rather it's an accepted tradition.
It is said to have originated from a Zen temple Sekizan Zenin, located at the foot of Mount Hieian (Hieizan), where one of its halls enshrines Fukurokuju, one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan. Pilgrimage by merchants to the temple on gotobi was said to bring good fortune for their trade.
It's generally accepted that the number of days in a month is based on superstitions such as the zodiac, and in each 30-day period, the 6-day Rokuyo happens five times.
However, the "about" 30 days are, as we all know, sometimes 31, and 28 in February or 29 in a leap year. Consequently the last day of the month is considered gotobi's 30th. Similarly, when a gotobi lands on a weekend day or public holiday, the closest working day is used for whatever usually happens when gotobi is a weekday. So any superstitious origin of gotobi doesn't give companies an exact span of five days for business practices.
As for ATMs, of course there are longer queues just after pay day. These tend to be at the month end or start of the month; not equally spread out over each of the six gotobi days. And traffic congestion due to sales people is unlikely to be the case, with the increasing use of online meetings.
Anyone familiar with the Tomei expressway going out of Tokyo will know that congestion around Machida occurs every day of the month!