Read Me: Long Holiday Seasons in Japan That You May Want to Avoid Going to Japan

Hi everyone who want to go or is going to Japan,

Do you know some long holiday seasons in Japan? In the season, main cities, such as Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, are awfully crowded with people!! Hmm, you want to tell me that those cities are always crowded with them? Yes! You are right!! You are very familiar with Japan. Those get more crowded at weekend than on weekdays. However, the long holiday seasons I will explain are extremely crowded. It is exactly chaos!! So I would like you to know the seasons and plan for Japan travel, and you don't need to worry about them so much! Fortunately, each Japanese long holiday season doesn't last for over a month. It lasts for fewer than 10 days each. You still have lots of options for travel in Japan!!

There are 3 periods in a year that you may want to avoid going to Japan. Some days of each period are public holidays, and most of Japanese have long vacation　in the each season.

1. "Golden Week": From around the end of April until around the end of the 1st week of May.
2. "Obon" holiday: From around the end of the 2nd week of August until around the end of the 3rd week of August.
3. New year's holiday called as "Sho-gatu": From around the end of the year until around the end of 1st week of January.

1. "Golden Week": 3 Japanese public holidays. 3rd of May as Constitution day, 4th of May as Greenery day and 5th of May as Children's day. Most of Japanese take some days off before and after the public holidays in between weekends. You can maximize your vacation time to 9 days. You can see lots of gigantic carp streamer anywhere. Those are colourful and photogenic!!

Gigantic carp streamer, "Koinobori" hung up for celebrating Children's day 

2. "Obon" holiday: The period from 13th of August until 16th of August is called "Obon" in general. "Obon" is one of traditional custom in Japan. We believe the souls of ancestors come back to our world from the underworld and stay home they lived during the "Obon" period. Many of companies is closed during the period, and many of Japanese take some days off before and after the period holidays in between weekends. Their vacation time usually be maximized to 9 days. They go to their parent's home, spend good time with their parents and visit the graves of their ancestors. Brilliant thing about "Obon" period is that there are lots of fireworks events in many parts of Japan.

3. New year's holiday, called as "Sho-gatu": Most of Japanese take long New year's vacation from around 29th of December until the end of the 1st week of January. I don't think that people who live in other counties takes such long vacation at New Year's. Most of Company is closed from 30th of December until 3rd of January in general, and Most of retail store and restaurant is closed 31st of December until 2nd of January because of short of hands. Good thing in the period are that you can go to a shrine or temple at midnight on New year's Eve ans stay there until New year's day. There is lots of people there, and many of famous shrines and temples are open. Then, you may see some lady or girl wearing "Kimono" easily on somewhere in a shrine or temple in the 1st week of January.

Did you get all of the 3 holiday seasons in Japan? I show some good things during each of the period to encourage you, but as my opinion, you may want to avoid going to Japan during those seasons if you can do that. You must wait in the longest queue ever, get involved in a heavy traffic jam on a road and difficult to find the place where you can park, book a tickets for an airplane or train "Shinkansen bullet train", or a hotel. Moreover, the price of them would be more expensive than usual.

If you want to see things or have experiences in the holiday seasons such as above I wrote, you should go to Japan then!! What you want to do is the most important for you. I hope that you just spent your money and time efficiently!!

Enjoy your trip in Japan! And see you in the next article of the blog!! 
"The ordinary for Japanese" must work to spice up your trip! 

P.S. Most of office workers take a train on the following time periods on weekdays, so almost all of trains/subways/metros in Tokyo or Osaka are overcrowded. Take care of them!!

• In the morning: Around from 7 am to 8:30 am
• In the evening: Around 17 to 18:30