Many people send this very question to me and worry that everything will be closed.
I would like to quickly talk about how a public holiday / national holiday in Japan will affect your travel plans.
Does a Japanese national holiday mean that everything is closed?
No. In fact, the opposite. Small business hours may be shorter or longer than normal but almost always EVERYTHING is open. Japanese people rarely get holidays or time off so businesses and sightseeing spots want to capitalize on all of this new “people traffic” and new eyes on what they have to offer.
HOWEVER, this often means that many places that stay open for a national holiday then close the following day instead. So check websites for opening hours on the day of the holiday AND for the two days following the holiday.
All sightseeing spots and businesses in Japan update their websites or IG accounts a few days before national holidays – please check them around public holiday dates. Changes will present on a calendar with x’s on days closed or just in written form.
In general, most places in Japan will say things like “Closed Wednesdays HOWEVER closed Thursdays if Wednesday is a national holiday.”
So, does a Japanese public holiday mean that everywhere will be more crowded?
Yes. It pretty much ALWAYS does.
This is a good time to make sure you have restaurant reservations sorted ahead of time (even if you normally wing it.)
If the holiday falls the day before or the day after a weekend – I would also be making restaurant reservations AND train reservations for either end of this long weekend. As I said above, Japanese people don’t get many consecutive holidays so many people plan trips away (domestic & international) even for a few days. So, for example, if the national holiday is the Friday. I would be making reservations for the whole weekend STARTING Thursday night right up until Sunday night.
This also goes for Golden Week, Silver Week and Obon (please google which dates these holidays fall over the year you are travelling to Japan. I have some tips here on surviving travelling during Golden Week in Japan here.
This also means that peak time train hours will extend to later in the morning and earlier in the afternoon too. Please plan accordingly.
Does this mean we should avoid theme parks on national holidays in Japan?
100000% yes. If you can? YES YES YES. Avoid!
I have written in detail how to use crowd prediction calendars for theme parks in Japan here.
