Labor Thanksgiving Day

📣 Traveler notes

Japan is an East Asian island nation with a highly developed and intricate culture influenced by both its insular nature and neighboring Asian cultures. Despite its status as a densely populated, highly modern country, Japanese culture places strong emphasis on inner balance, tranquility, and efficiency. Daily life in major cities is often fast-paced and busy.

• The most significant holiday is New Year (Oshōgatsu), which often leads to widespread travel and price increases from late December through early January.
• Spring (March/April) features cherry blossom viewing (Hanami), an outdoor festival. This period, often overlapping with the start of the financial year, sees massive tourist crowds and high demand.
• Golden Week (late April to early May) is a major holiday period with four public holidays, leading to extremely crowded trains and inflated prices for travel and accommodation.
• Major festivals (Matsuri) and fireworks (Hanabi) occur throughout the country, particularly during the warmer months.
• The first time to visit is generally suggested before or after Golden Week to avoid peak travel congestion and price spikes.
• While general holiday patterns shift, travelers should expect peak travel periods around New Year's and Golden Week.
• Generally, use chopsticks for most Japanese food. Key dining taboos include: never placing chopsticks upright in rice; never passing food from your chopsticks to another person's; and avoid pointing with chopsticks. For service, wait to be acknowledged; staff generally ignore requests until prompted by saying "sumimasen" ("excuse me"). Tipping is not customary, though some establishments may include service charges.