Last Updated: Apr 21, 2024

Japan’s Golden Week

Avoid this Peak Travel Period

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

It’s the very beginning of May and for the first time in longer than I can remember, I actually have nothing pressing to do. As I write this, I’m lazily lounging about in one of Tokyo’s many Starbucks. All around me, families and groups of friends alike are smiling as they enjoy exploring the man-made island of Odaiba. Partially out of addiction to social media, and partially out of boredom, I check my ever-faithful iPhone to see what’s up on Instagram. As expected, my feed is inundated with shots of bikini-clad friends who are off in Guam, Hawaii, etc. As I close the app to get back to writing, I find myself thinking that none of this would be all that surprising if it weren’t a Tuesday.

Now, anyone who is even remotely familiar with workaholic Japan is likely wondering what the hell is going on here. After all, in a country notorious for working its staff to death (quite literally in some tragic cases), it’s shockingly out of the ordinary for people to be enjoying themselves. Where are all the ubiquitous black suits and obligatory late night drinking? The short answer? Golden Week. Officially kicking off on April 29, this much celebrated period is marked by a steady string of national holidays. You can see the full list here on the Wikipedia page but for most…