When you are making plans, it is good to know when would be busy season in Japan.
1.The busiest season
①Golden Week (End of Aprill to May 5)
②Obon around Aug 13-15
③End of the year to New year holiday
2.Busy season
①3 day weekends (weekend plus national holiday mondays)
②weekends of September-November
③March 20 to early April
3.Cherry blossom season
4.Autumn foliage season
5.When there is famous festivals
6.For theme parks such as Disney land
1+2+School vacation especially March
7.High season with overseas tourists
①Chinese New Year
②During Summer vacations from school (Late May-End of Aug)
1.The busiest season: If possible, it would be better to avoid travelling this time of year. If you are in Japan this time, Tokyo is relatively quiet because many people are on holiday.
①Golden Week (End of Aprill to May 5) There are many holidays in this period so many people go abroad or travel domestically. Airports, stations and roads are extremely busy and hotels are difficult to book.
②Obon around Aug 13 Obon is the time when everyone want to go back to hometown because traditionally, it is believed that your ancestors will come back home. We generally go to family graves and bring ancestors home. Like Golden Week, transportation will be busy, especially weekend closest to Aug 13 for going out from Tokyo and Aug 15 to come back to Tokyo.
③End of the year to New year holiday Like Obon, people often try to go back to hometown for the new year or some people would like to travel abroad during new years holiday so airports are busy.
2.Busy season: If you are traveling to Japan this time, it is better to make plans ahead of time and make reservations early for hotels, attractions, and transportation.
①3 day weekend (weekend plus national holiday mondays) Some holidays were moved to mondays in 2000-2003 for so called “Happy Monday System” to make long weekends:Second Monday of January(Coming of age day), third Monday of July(Marine day), third monday of September(Respect for the elderly), second monday of October(Sports day). Those long weekends are usually busy with transportation and hotels.
②September to November weekends are ideal time for travelling, so many Japanese people travel domestically. Better to reserve hotels early if you are going to famous tourist spots.
③March 20 to beginning of April: Japanese school year starts in April and ends in March so this period is usually spring break. Many family travel this time of the year because children are relatively free before the new school year starts.
3.Cherry blossom season It differs from year to year, but generally speaking, end of March to early April. Some people follow cherry blossom from southern Japan to northern Japan, so it lasts quite long. Check the cherry blossom calender.
4.Autumn foliage season Like cherry blossom season, Japanese love color change. Because of climate change, it is getting later in the year, but if you go to northern Japan in the mountains, you can enjoy longer time (but it is really crowded and we see news of traffic congestion every year.)
5.When there is famous festivals In different areas of Japan, we have different festivals. Some famous one are Sanja Festival in Asakusa, Tokyo, Gion Festival in Kyoto, Neputa Festival in Aomori and so on.
6.For theme parks such as Disney land and Universal studio
1+2+School vacation, especially March are really busy because students often like to go out with friends at the end of the school year.
7.High season for overseas tourists
①Chinese New Year Many people visit Japan on new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar.
②During Summer vacations from school (Generally late May to end of Aug) Mamy families visit Japan on this time.
For your information here is JR Central Calender* in Japanese. It starts from April to March. Days in yellow are the busiest days and orange are busy days. If you want to travel during less crowded times, weekdays in September to the first week of October, early December, January and February (days in blue) are not so crowded.
*JR Central operates Shinkansen (bullet trains) between Tokyo and Osaka.
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