A Japanese friend once told me the only week of the year he could really switch off was Golden Week. The rest of the year, work catches up with him by phone, by email, by the guilt of taking more than three days off in a row. Golden Week is sacred. And that’s exactly why it has become, for foreign travelers, one of the worst weeks to discover Japan.
Golden Week is the cluster of four national holidays falling between April 29 and May 5 that, with bridge days, becomes the longest vacation stretch on the Japanese calendar. For about ten days, the entire country is on the move. Shinkansen tickets sell out in minutes, ryokan are full six months ahead, and Mount Fuji has its own queues.
The question I get asked the most: should you go, or should you flee? Honest answer: if you have the choice, choose another time. But if you don’t have the choice, or if you’re the kind of traveler who likes to see a country actually living, here’s how I’d approach it.
What Golden Week actually is
Four public holidays in close succession:
- April 29, Showa Day (the Showa Emperor’s birthday)
- May 3, Constitution Day
- May 4, Greenery Day
- May 5, Children’s Day
Depending on how the weekends fall, many Japanese workers take the in-between weekdays off to get a continuous 7-to-10-day break. It’s the only stretch of the year when most salaried workers actually allow themselves to leave the office for more than a few days in a row.
Why it’s complicated
Transport first. The Shinkansen connecting Tokyo to Kyoto, Osaka, Kanazawa or Hiroshima are fully reserved. Tickets open one month ahead and sell out in minutes for popular slots. Domestic flights (to Hokkaido, Okinawa) easily triple in price. Rental cars are scarce and expensive.
Accommodation next. Ryokan in popular destinations (Hakone, Kawaguchi-ko, Kyoto, Nikko) are booked four to six months ahead. The ones still available cost two or three times their normal rate. Business hotels in cities stay available longer, but rates also climb 30-60%.
And the sights themselves. Everything is saturated. Castles, temples, flower parks: hours-long queues, dense crowds, impossible atmosphere. If you’ve seen a photo of Sannenzaka in Kyoto empty at sunrise, forget it, during Golden Week, even 6 AM isn’t enough.
The few upsides
To be fair, there are some.
First, the weather is gorgeous. Early May in Japan is dry, bright, neither too hot nor too cold. For photography and hiking, it’s a perfect window if you can dodge the crowds.
Second, local festivals abound. The Hakata Dontaku in Fukuoka (May 3-4), giant koinobori carp banners hung over bridges everywhere, the Kanda Shrine festival in Tokyo in some years. If you prefer living culture to quiet views, there’s plenty.
And paradoxically, Tokyo partly empties out. Many Tokyoites leave, so some business districts (Shimbashi, Marunouchi) are surprisingly quiet. Popular restaurants you could never book before become available. It’s a different Tokyo to discover.
If you have to go: my strategy
1. Book everything, six months ahead. Hotels, ryokan, domestic flights, Shinkansen (one month ahead for the latter, the moment booking opens). No reservation = no enjoyable trip.
2. Skip the classics. Instead of crowded Kyoto, go to Kanazawa (only marginally quieter but culturally just as rich) or Takayama. Instead of Hakone, head to Yufuin or Kurokawa in Kyushu. Instead of Nikko, try Karuizawa or the Japanese Alps.
3. Stay in Tokyo. Counterintuitive, but Tokyo during GW is less hellish than Kyoto during GW. And it’s a chance to explore neighborhoods you never have time for: Yanaka, Kagurazaka, Shimokitazawa, Kichijoji. All quiet, all interesting.
4. Head north. Tohoku (Aomori, Akita, Yamagata) gets far fewer tourists during GW. Same for southern Hokkaido. Rural and remote destinations offer an almost-normal Golden Week.
5. Don’t buy a JR Pass for GW. Since all Shinkansen require reservations during this period and trains are packed, the pass loses much of its appeal. Compare with individual tickets bought ahead.
If you can choose your dates: come instead
The best alternatives to GW for similar weather and atmosphere:
- Mid- to late May, almost identical weather, and the crowds have completely vanished
- Early June, before the rainy season. Very few tourists. Hydrangeas starting
- Mid-October to early November, autumn equivalent, incredible light, moderate crowds (except Kyoto, which fills up late November)
Periods to avoid if you can: Golden Week, Obon (mid-August), and New Year (late December – early January). Those are the three “human waves” of the Japanese calendar.
The verdict
If you’re discovering Japan for the first time, I’d advise against Golden Week. It’s the worst possible window for a good first impression. The frustration of failed bookings, the queues everywhere, the feeling of being one among millions, all of it spoils a trip that should be wonder.
If you already know Japan, though, and you’re curious to see another face of the country, the one where everyone is on holiday at the same time, where children wear traditional clothes, where koinobori flap in the wind everywhere, then GW can become an experience of its own. Just prepare seriously, and accept ahead of time that certain things will simply be impossible.
For more, see also my guides on How to Travel Around Japan and How Much Does a Trip to Japan Cost.