Japanese National Holidays

Japanese are highly regarded for their commitment to work. Often putting work before family few Japanese take the paid holidays which they are legally entitled to. In my 10 years of living in Japan I have never known any of my Japanese friends to take more than a weeks holiday. Most Japanese will never use all their paid holidays and believe it is wrong to do so as it will cause trouble for fellow co-workers and so on.

Japanese may not take many personal holidays, but they do celebrate many Japanese national holidays. Below is a list of the many national holidays Japanese take each year. Some of them sound a bit wacky like “Marine Day” or “Green Day”. However, most of these holidays are culturally significant in Japan. Some are in fact festival days. Setsubun and Hanabata are two very popular festivals widely celebrated in Japan  These days represent the few times most people can take a day off work without having to worry about what their co-workers are doing. Guilt free holidays! It would definitely impress Japanese if you were able to talk or ask questions about national holidays.

Japanese National Holidays