It should be noted that the concept of seasons does not exist in Japan, where episodes of Pokémon air nearly every Thursday. An invention of the American broadcast industry, a season is typically aired new for nine months out of the year, with three months (usually during the summer) taken off to begin production for the next season, during which reruns air. In Japan, no differentiation is made between this and any other seasons in the Diamond & Pearl series. However, unlike previous seasons in the dub, there was no break between this season and the previous one.