Avoid roughly 29 April – 6 May (Golden Week), 11–17 August (Obon) and 29 December – 4 January (New Year). During these, Shinkansen reserved seats genuinely sell out, hotel prices rise sharply, and over New Year many restaurants and shops close entirely for several days. If you cannot move your dates, reserve trains the day booking opens — exactly 30 days ahead — and stay put rather than moving cities.
The three periods
| Dates | What happens | Severity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Week | Approx. 29 Apr – 6 May | Four public holidays in a row; the whole country travels | Extreme |
| Obon | Approx. 11–17 Aug | Families return to home towns; rural areas fill | High |
| New Year | 29 Dec – 4 Jan | Shrine visits; much of the country closes | Extreme |
Exact dates shift slightly each year with the calendar, so confirm yours before booking anything.
Golden Week
The most disruptive for a visitor. Four public holidays fall within a week, and because Japanese workers take very little annual leave, this is when most families travel.
- Shinkansen reserved seats sell out — genuinely, in both directions
- Hotel rates commonly double, and the best rooms went months ago
- Popular sights carry two-hour queues
- Expressways are heavily congested, so a car is no escape
Cities are, oddly, one of the better places to be — a great many Tokyo residents leave, so the city is quieter than usual while the countryside fills.
Obon
Mid-August, when families return to their home towns to honour ancestors. The pressure is on trains and on rural accommodation rather than on city hotels.
It is also the middle of a Japanese summer — 33–36°C with high humidity — which is a bigger deterrent for most visitors than the crowds. On the other side, Obon brings some of the best festivals of the year, and if a summer festival is the reason you are coming, this is when it happens.
If you cannot move your dates
The weeks immediately after are excellent
This is the part worth knowing. The days directly following each of these periods are among the best of the year: the domestic crowd has gone home, prices fall back, and the weather is unchanged.
- Mid-May, right after Golden Week — green, warm, and remarkably quiet
- Late August, after Obon — still hot, but the trains empty out
- The second week of January — everything reopens, and it is the cheapest travel of the year
If your dates are anywhere near one of these three periods, shifting by a single week is usually the highest-value change you can make to the whole trip.
Travelling during one of these?
It is workable with the right plan. Send me your dates and I will tell you what needs booking immediately.
Plan My Japan Trip