It is a very tiring trip if you come all the way from overseas but unexpectedly the trip falls on the long consecutive holidays in Japan. You will experience things like “fully occupied local air flight and train, traffic jam on highway, fully occupied at most of the restaurants, etc”. Today, we will brief you about the long consecutive holiday in Japan in year 2018, and tell you how is the condition during the holiday!
Golden week in 2018 is from 28th April to 6th May.
In Japan, there is a long consecutive holiday from late April to early May every year which named as Golden Week. Even though the public holiday is only 29th April (Showa Day), 3rd May (Constitution Memorial Day), 4th May (Greenery Day), 5th May (Children's Day), but many of them will take leave on the working day in between to make it a continuous holiday. Normally airplanes and bullet trains are fully occupied, and there will be a heavy traffic occurs in the vicinity of the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Besides, since it is the spring vacation season, most of the outdoor tourist attraction area in Tokyo metropolitan area and Kansai area are crowded with people.
"Obon vacation" during summer is from 13th to 16th August every year
The official name of “Obon” is “Urabon’e”. It is an event to honor the deceased spirits of one’s ancestors. The event lasts for 4 days, from 13th to 16th July in the calendar for Tokyo, and 13th to 16th August for other areas. During this period, Japanese families and relatives will gather and pray to the ancestors, visit and clean their ancestors' graves. Nationally most of the Japanese take the latter date, 13th to 16th August as their "Obon holiday" which also defined as "summer holiday". In this period both airway and roadway are crowded and occupied by the homecoming people and tourists. Furthermore, since it is summer vacation for primary school, junior high school, high school, university, the tourist attraction spots in Tokyo are crowded with local tourist as well.
In September 2018, there are two times of three days consecutive holidays in 17th and 23th weeks
There are two National holidays in September including 17th September (Respect for the Aged Day), 23rd September (Autumnal Equinox Day). Depending on the year, it might be a longer consecutive holiday in September which called as Silver Week. However in 2018, the gap between the holidays is big and we don’t have the long consecutive holidays, Silver Week in September. There are only 2 times 3 days consecutive holidays from 15th to 17th and 22nd to 14th which are the most suitable season for travel. During this season, many of them are going on for a domestic travel such as mountain sightseeing and hiking.
Take note on year end and early New Year! New Year consecutive holidays is from 29th December 2018 to 3rd January 2019
There are many restaurants and departmental stores which is opened even during Bon Festival and Golden Week. However a lot restaurants and department stores are closed or only opened for shorter hours during the year end and New Year holidays. Especially on 1st January (New Year's Day), if you travelling in Japan you will find the day is the quietest day in the year. It’s better to make the planning in advance to avoid you travel all the way to your destination shops but unfortunately the shops are closed.
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