If you live in a popular tourist destination, and feel like you saw more Japanese people around in the past couple of days, there’s a reason for it!
The end of April through around May 5th is the biggest traveling time for the Japanese. This time of the year is called “Golden Week” (ゴールデンウィーク gooruden wiiku). During this period, there are many national holidays:
April 29: Showa Day (昭和の日 Shoowa no hi)
May 3: Constitution Memorial Day (憲法記念日 Kenpoo kinenbi)
May 4: Greenery Day (みどりの日 Midori no hi)
May 5: Children’s Day (こどもの日 Kodomo no hi)
Although April 30 - May 2 are not holidays, many people take these days off to have long consecutive holidays.
Other than Golden Week, there are two long holiday periods in Japan. One is during New Year’s and the other is around August 15. However, those two holiday periods are usually about getting together with family and relatives — think Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays in the U.S. So Golden Week is really the time when everybody goes out for some vacation fun and overseas travel.
Avoid traveling to Japan around Golden Week because everywhere is crowded and hotels and airfares get expensive!
