Car Rentals Compact cars from around 4,000 Yen/day!

Online Hostel Bookings Hostels and inexpensive ryokan from $10 per night!

Rental Phones 315 yen per day

Related Pages

Travel Living in Japan Tradition Survey: Golden Week Annual events Calendar Festivals New Year Coming of Age Hina Matsuri Setsubun Tanabata Obon Shichigosan

Japan Sightseeing Guide

Hokkaido Sapporo Otaru Hakodate Furano Abashiri Noboribetsu Niseko Lake Toya Daisetsuzan Shiretoko Rishiri Rebun Akan Tohoku Sendai Matsushima Hiraizumi Akita Kakunodate Nyuto Onsen Aomori Hirosaki Lake Towada Shimokita Hanto Dewa Sanzan Aizu Kanto Tokyo Yokohama Kamakura Nikko Kinugawa Hakone Kawagoe Kusatsu Ikaho Minakami Narita Chubu Nagoya Inuyama Mt.Fuji Fujigoko Izu Peninsula Nagano Matsumoto Kamikochi Kiso Valley Hakuba Yamanouchi Sado Island Takayama Okuhida Shirakawa-go Gujo Gero Onsen Kanazawa Noto Peninsula Kansai Kyoto Osaka Nara Kobe Himeji Kinosaki Mount Koya Kumano Asuka Yoshino Amanohashidate Hikone Iga Ueno Ise Shima Chugoku Hiroshima Miyajima Onomichi Okayama Kurashiki Matsue Iwami Ginzan Iwakuni Yamaguchi Hagi Shikoku Takamatsu Kotohira Naoshima Matsuyama Uchiko Kochi Tokushima Naruto Kyushu Fukuoka Dazaifu Nagasaki Kumamoto Mount Aso Minamata Beppu Miyazaki Takachiho Kagoshima Kirishima Yakushima Okinawa Honto Miyako Yaeyama

Survey

Which is your favorite travel guide book on Japan? Lonely Planet Japan Rough Guides Japan Fodor's Japan Frommer's Japan Gateway to Japan Let's Go Japan Eyewitness Travel Japan Michelin Japan Other see results Other Surveys: How to improve tourism Next trip to Japan Ski Destination Budget for ryokan stay Preferred way to stay at a ryokan Purpose of visit Most popular region Have you recently entered Japan?

japan-guide.com newsletter

Keeping you up to date on Japan travel and living related issues and site updates. Click here to subscribe!

The Golden Week is a collection of four national holidays within seven days. In combination with well placed weekends, the Golden Week becomes one of Japan's three busiest holiday seasons, besides New Year and the Obon week. Trains, airports and sightseeing spots get very crowded during Golden Week, and accommodation in tourist areas can get booked out well in advance. The national holidays making up the Golden Week are: April 29 Showa Day (Showa no hi): April 29 is the birthday of former Emperor Showa, who died in the year 1989. Until 2006, Greenery Day (see May 4) used to be celebrated on this day. May 3 Constitution Day (Kenpo kinenbi): On this day in 1947, the new post war constitution was put into effect. May 4 Greenery Day (Midori no hi): Until 2006, Greenery Day used to be celebrated on April 29, the birthday of former Emperor Showa. The day is dedicated to the environment and nature, because the emperor loved plants and nature. Before being declared Greenery Day, May 4 used to be a national holiday due to a law, which declares a day, that falls between two national holidays, a national holiday. May 5 Children's Day (Kodomo no hi): The Boy's Festival (Tango no Sekku) is celebrated on this day. Families pray for the health and future success of their sons by hanging up carp streamers and displaying samurai dolls, both symbolizing strength, power and success in life. The Girl's Festival, by the way, is celebrated on March 3.   Golden Week 2010 In 2010, the Golden Week will consist of an isolated public holiday (April 29) and a 5-day weekend (May 1-5). Travel activity is anticipated to peak on May 1 with people leaving the large urban centers and on May 5 in the opposite direction. Heavy traffic can also be expected on April 29 and May 4. Mon April 26 Tue April 27 Wed April 28 Thu April 29 Fri April 30 Sat May 1 Sun May 2 Mon May 3 Tue May 4 Wed May 5 Thu May 6 Fri May 7 Sat May 8 Sun May 9   Golden Week 2011 In 2011, weekends are unfavorably placed to create two separate holidays of three days each. Travel activity is anticipated to peak on April 29 and May 3 with people leaving the large urban centers and on May 1 and 5 in the opposite direction. Mon April 25 Tue April 26 Wed April 27 Thu April 28 Fri April 29 Sat April 30 Sun May 1 Mon May 2 Tue May 3 Wed May 4 Thu May 5 Fri May 6 Sat May 7 Sun May 8

Advertisements

English Links

Boy's Day (Ginkoya.com) General information about Boy's Festival. Boy's Festival (Hiro's Home Page) General information.