Colours in Sweden and Japan

Country cottages and barns are painted Falu red, a deep red with white trim. The paint is made from the waste of the old copper mine at Falun.

Red is the colour of the Social Democrats, the party that governed for most of the twentieth century. Its symbol is a red rose.

The torii gates of Shinto shrines are often painted vermilion, a bright orange-red. The colour is held to keep evil away, and the long tunnels of gates at Fushimi Inari are the best known.

The Dala horse, a carved wooden horse from the province of Dalarna, is usually painted a reddish orange with a harness in white, green, yellow and blue. It is sold as a symbol of the country.

The flag is a yellow cross on blue, colours taken from the national arms of three gold crowns on a blue shield. The national teams are called Blagult, the blue-yellows.

Indigo dyeing, called aizome, clothed ordinary people in deep blue through the Edo period. The men's national football team plays in blue and is nicknamed Samurai Blue.

Purple dye from the murasaki plant was costly and hard to make. In the court rank system set up under Prince Shotoku, the highest officials wore purple caps.

Pale pink is the colour of cherry blossom. In spring people picnic under the trees for hanami, flower viewing, and the short bloom is a common image for how brief life is.

On 13 December, Saint Lucy's Day, a girl in a white gown with a red sash and a crown of candles leads a procession of singers in white.

Students finishing secondary school put on a white cap with a black peak, the studentmossa, and are driven around town on open lorries.

A bride at a Shinto wedding may wear the shiromuku, a kimono that is white from head to foot. White is also the colour of the paper streamers that mark sacred places.

Red and white together, called kohaku, mark happy occasions. Curtains at ceremonies are striped red and white, and the New Year's Eve song contest sets a Red team against a White team.

Mourners wear plain black, called mofuku, to funerals, and men add a black tie. Condolence money goes in an envelope tied with black and white cord.