Do you think Japan has too many or too few public holidays, compared to other countries?

It's all relative. Since so many Japanese people feel guilty about taking any of their earned time off, the country as a whole probably needs a lot more public holidays.

most strange part is that there are no public holidays Christmas and Easter here most of world have...

More public holidays means more free time for private life. No need to provide proofs how good is it for everybody so why not to introduce a full GW and new year holidays?

I personally dislike public holidays because everybody is off work/school at the same time. Golden week and New Year are a particular bugbear. I'd prefer to have more nekyuu days and use them as I see fit. I don't like to be told when to take holidays by the government.

Japan has 16 national holidays, the UK 8. UK holidays are on Mondays and Fridays. Japan's are all over the place often with work days between two holidays. Better than nothing but lining the holidays up would encourage travel and boost the economy and also allow more people to visit their far away relatives.

most strange part is that there are no public holidays Christmas and Easter here most of world have...

Maybe it is because Japan is NOT a christian country? Does your country celebrate the Showa Day for example?

UK holidays are on Mondays and Fridays.

Except for Christmas and New Year.

I appreciate the new laws that require full-time employees to take at least 5 days of leave each year. I'd rather see a greater cultural acceptance of taking time off when one needs it rather than the entire nation taking off at the same time, sending prices for anything relating to travel skyward while also leaving underprivileged service workers laboring harder than usual to support them.

Japanese society has deep-rooted custom as if rest is bad.

> NZApr. 28 08:17 am JST

most strange part is that there are no public holidays Christmas and Easter here most of world have...

Christmas was made up by US marketing firms to sell things in a slow season, and Easter is a Catholic holiday and a lot of Japan is not Catholic. Also Easter is a pretty dumb holiday, from the non-religious perspective.

But, so many Japanese companies simply ignore them and force their employees to work while their children are off school. Where is the government?

At least compensate national holidays that fall on a Saturday with either the preceeding Friday or following Monday off.

This year GW isn't even bronze

It is not about how many public holidays they have. It is the overall attitude towards having a holiday that Japan has some serious problems. Workers are afraid to take paid leave because of shame or due to the stigma that they might cause "trouble" or "meiwaku" to the office. Whether they have 24 or 70 public holidays, it doesn't really matter. Even city halls are open during red calendars.

yes there should be a few more long weekends. One national day of Yokai. A nation day for Onsen and a national day for fishing/hiking/biking

It's not so much the "how many," but the "when" the holidays take place.

Quit having "holidays" on Saturdays or Sundays.

That's not a holiday. That's combining a weekend day with a holiday. It's redundant.

Also, this year April 29 (holiday) is on a Tuesday. The week goes: Workday (M) Holiday (TU) Workday (W.) That's a waste of time.

Either put it on a Monday or Wednesday or what's the point?

When a National Holiday falls on the weekend, then Monday becomes the day off. We need another 4 days.

Why do bank holidays fall on weekends here ?! Utterly ridiculous.

@dan

If it falls on a Saturday, it stays. If it falls on a Sunday it moves to Monday.

few.

at least golden week have to fix one week off for all.say May 1 till May 7.

every year.

I see national holidays as an excuse for companies to not allow workers to take holidays the rest of the time. Meaning that the existence of many national holidays undermines the ability of many workers to rest or travel when they want to. This ability is especially important for people with caring responsibilities for children, elderly, or sick/disabled family members. A work environment where taking time off is seen as slacking will automatically disadvantage such carers, which yes, predominantly means women. In Japan, five kids with flu and classes can shut down with no notice. Families are just expected to "cope".

The crowding and boosted prices during national holidays are also a turn off.

Working hours are too long in Japan, but there are better solutions than "more national holidays".

Japan needs to make Saturdays an "official" off day. There is a long history of getting 2 days off a week, but there is no guarantee that those off days will be Sat and Sun.

2 days off a week means 104 off days a year, but since some months have 5 weeks of Sat or Sun, people "have" to work or use their vacation days (heaven forbid) to take off.

If Saturdays and Sundays are automatically off, then when holidays fall on a Sat, it would be the day before, or the following Monday that the holiday "off day" would be observed. Heaven forbid giving time off ahead of time.

The problems with holidays is they really don't get personal holidays from their workplaces. So, the whole country has to travel the same time which causes massive hotel & air price increases. Not to mention the tripling of hotel fees during holidays With personal holidays, you might be able to travel from time to time at much more reasonable rates.

I never go anywhere during the usual “Holidays”, it’s either the week BEFORE or AFTER, but never DURING “Golden” Joke, it’s never a week, at most it’s a Fut’sKa.

SomeWeebApr. 29  06:58 am JST

NZApr. 28 08:17 am JST*

most strange part is that there are no public holidays Christmas and Easter here most of world have...

Christmas was made up by US marketing firms to sell things in a slow season, and Easter is a Catholic holiday and a lot of Japan is not Catholic. Also Easter is a pretty dumb holiday, from the non-religious perspective.

Easter is a Christian holiday, not just Catholic, although it is one of, if not the most important celebration of the Catholic church. Various Christian religions celebrate it in different ways and at different times, but for most, the death and resurrection of Christ is centrally important to their faith.

I fully agree that it would be odd for Japanese to recognize either as national holidays given that only around 1% of Japanese are Christian.

About 29 in Cambodia

Like, the birthdays of just about everyone in the royal family are national holidays.

But working on Saturdays too is pretty normal, so it evens out.

There's no such thing as to few holidays. Knowing the Japanese mentality, the number of holidays should double in order to encourage them to take more days off.

And besides, what holidays? Half of them this year are on the weekends anyways.

I am also not very found of those Obon and GW since everything is getting crazy. Triple hotel prices, ridiculous crowds everywhere, overly crowded transportation, price soaring everywhere, etc, etc.

Thanks but I would prefer that the government to mandate taking minimum 20 or 25 mandatory PTO days, from the ridiculously low 10 days it is now. That would be 1 million times better than adding any extra national holidays.

I think on the whole Japan probably has a descent amount of public holidays. I just wish obon and golden week were staggered so that not everyone was free at the same time.