Japanese Public Holidays & Era Converter
Japan counts years by imperial era (元号, nengō). The current era is Reiwa, which began on 1 May 2019.
Era Converter
| Era | Year | Month | Day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ||||
| Western | ||||
Japanese Public Holidays
| Date | Weekday | Holiday | Japanese | Era |
|---|
* The equinox holidays are fixed by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and formally announced in the official gazette in February of the preceding year. This page uses the standard approximation, which matches every announced date from 1980 to 2099.
Era Reference Table
| Western | Japanese era | ROC | Ganzhi |
|---|
How It Works
Reading Japanese dates
Reiwa = Western − 2018, Heisei = Western − 1988, Shōwa = Western − 1925, Taishō = Western − 1911, Meiji = Western − 1867. The first year of an era is called gannen (元年), not "year 1". Months and days are identical to the Western calendar — only the year count differs, exactly like Taiwan's ROC system. Japanese driving licences, residence cards, contracts and government forms are commonly dated this way.
Taishō and ROC years are identical
A useful coincidence: Taishō N = ROC N, because both equal the Western year minus 1911. Taishō 1 and ROC 1 are both 1912. Documents from Taiwan's Japanese colonial period dated in Taishō can be read directly as ROC years. Similarly, ROC = Reiwa + 107.
Happy Monday holidays
Four holidays are pinned to a Monday to create three-day weekends: Coming of Age Day (2nd Monday of January), Marine Day (3rd Monday of July), Respect for the Aged Day (3rd Monday of September) and Sports Day (2nd Monday of October). Their dates therefore move each year, and this page computes them rather than using a fixed table.
Substitute holidays
A holiday falling on a Sunday moves to the next day that is not already a holiday. Unlike Taiwan, a Japanese holiday landing on a Saturday is simply lost — there is no compensation.
Citizens' Holiday
A single ordinary weekday sandwiched between two public holidays automatically becomes a holiday itself, called a Citizens' Holiday (国民の休日). This produces the rare five-day break in September 2026.
Golden Week and Silver Week
Golden Week is the cluster of holidays from late April into early May — the busiest and most expensive travel period of the Japanese year. Silver Week is the September equivalent, and only occurs when Respect for the Aged Day and the autumn equinox fall exactly two days apart. 19–23 September 2026 is such a year: a five-day break, the first since 2015. Book flights and hotels far in advance, or avoid these windows entirely.
Compiled from Japan's Act on National Holidays. Year-end/New Year (roughly 29 Dec – 3 Jan) and Obon (mid-August) are not statutory holidays, but most businesses close anyway.