Value Village ／ Before you come to Japan
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
Three times a year most of Japan travels at once, and visitors who arrive in the middle of it find full trains, doubled hotel prices and closed businesses. The dates are fixed and known years ahead; planning around them is the single easiest way to improve a trip.
| Period | Dates | What happens | Advice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Week | 29 April – 5 May (four public holidays; often a 7–10-day block) | Domestic travel peak; Shinkansen reserved seats sell out a month ahead; hotels in Kyoto, Kanazawa, Hakone at 2–3× price; expressways jammed (40 km queues) | Book everything 1–2 months ahead or avoid; big cities are actually quieter (Tokyo empties) |
| Obon | around 13–16 August (not a public holiday, but most companies close) | Return to hometowns; outbound trains and roads jammed 10–13 Aug, inbound 15–17 Aug; heat at its peak | Stay in one place; visit ancestral festivals (bon odori) |
| New Year | 29 December – 3 January | Outbound 28–30 Dec, return 2–4 Jan; shops, museums, restaurants and government offices close 31 Dec–3 Jan (department stores reopen 1 or 2 Jan); shrines packed | Plan for closures; see the New Year article |
| Secondary | Silver Week (September, when holidays align), school holidays (late July–August, late March–early April), cherry blossom (late March–early April), autumn leaves in Kyoto (mid–late November) | Hotel prices up; Kyoto foliage weekends rival Golden Week | Book Kyoto in November early |
[Verify] Holiday dates with the Cabinet Office's list of national holidays; passenger figures with JR Group's seasonal reports.
Golden Week and Obon are domestic travel, not festivals. You compete with 100 million residents for trains and rooms. The exception is Obon's bon odori dances in towns.
Most businesses close 31 December to 3 January; museums and many restaurants for longer. Convenience stores, department stores (from 1 or 2 Jan) and shrines are open. Plan meals.
Nozomi trains have no unreserved cars at all during Golden Week, Obon and New Year (all-reserved since late 2023); Hikari/Kodama unreserved cars are standing-room-only with platform queues. Reserve a month ahead, or travel against the peak flow.
Tokyo empties as residents leave; museums and restaurants are quieter than usual. The crowds are in Kyoto, resorts and on the roads.
Golden Week follows a month later and is more expensive for hotels. Mid-April to late April between the two is a relative lull.
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https://www8.cao.go.jp/chosei/shukujitsu/gaiyou.html
https://www.jreast.co.jp/press/
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/tokei_hakusyo/shukuhakutokei.html
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
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