It’s nothing new that Japan is a country with very short holidays for workers. The common practice in most companies is to have 10 days per year, and it usually increases one day per year worked: once you have been in the company for two years, you have 11 days; when you have been three years, 12 days and so on up to a maximum of 20. Compared to, for example, European countries, which usually offer one month per year worked since the first year you join the company, these holidays are considered too scarce.
In addition, in some companies, either out of embarrassment or social pressure, workers usually don’t take more than three days in a row on vacation, because during the time they are not working their colleagues have to “do your part of the job”.
To try to compensate in some way for this lack of vacations, Japan is the country with more national holidays per year, and recently the Shinzo Abe government is trying to boost what it has called “Happy Mondays”, passing some national holidays to Monday so that the people can have a long weekend.
But if there is a date that most Japanese and people who work in Japan look forward to every year is the Golden Week.
Golden Week in Japan : How to Travel
What is Golden Week in Japan?
The Golden Week(ゴールデンウィーク) is a concentration of four national holidays in 7 days between the end of April and the beginning of May that give rise to the longest holiday period in Japan. In addition to the four national holidays, Saturday and Sunday are added, and one or two extra days that many companies grant to their workers (for example if the first holiday falls on Thursday, some companies also closes Friday and links with the weekend and the remaining 3 national holidays).
It is said that the name comes from the radio lingo “golden time”, which was a specific time with the highest audience. During this week, there were 9 official holidays – as declared in 1948.
The holidays days that make up the Golden Week are the following:
Showa Day (April 29th)
Showa Day or Showa no hi (昭和の日) is the first holiday that gives rise to the Golden Week.
Hirohito, the Emperor of the Showa era, was born on April 29, 1901. In 1948, during his reign, Hirohito promulgated that his birthday will be a national holiday. But Hirohito is a controversial emperor, since it was who reigned during the II World War and supported the Japanese army, so after his death in 1989 the Showa Day was abolished.
But in 2007 this holiday was reintroduced, although according with the government, with a different meaning. It’s not a day to celebrate Emperor Hirohito’s birthday but a day to think over the turbulent years of Hirohito’s reign. More specifically, about the Second World War and the role of Japan in it. This day is about remember the mistakes that shouldn’t be committed again and the hardships that Japan were passed later but also to remember the Japanese economic miracle that came later thanks to everyone’s effort and how the Japanese raised the country again together. The goal is to motivate the new generations to create a prosperous and new future between all.
Constitution Memorial Day (May 3th)
The Constitution Day or Kenpō Kinenbi (憲法記念日) commemorates the promulgation of the 1947 Constitution, the current constitution of Japan and it’s a day to reflect on the democracy and government of Japan.
After the surrender of Japan in the WWII the Japanese government and USA General Douglas MacArthur cooperated in the drafting of the new constitution. This new constitution takes two years but finally was ratified on the same day as Emperor Meiji’s birthday, November 3rd, 1946 and entered into force on May 3rd, 1947. In 2020 as day 3rd is Sunday the holiday has been changed to 6th.
This day it’s the only day that the Diet Building, the Kokkai Gijidô (国会議事堂) opens its doors to the public (the Diet is the assembly or maximum power organ of Japan) so if you’re in Tokyo on the Constitution Day I recommend you visit the Diet Building since it’s a unique opportunity.