The Reality of Golden Week in Japan

Golden Week in Japan is at the end of April beginning of May when there is a week with three or four holidays in it, because of that most people end up having the entire week off. This year Golden Week is 10 days because they are also going through the changing of the emperor. Golden Week this year is from April 27th to May 6th. So how does Golden Week affect you?

My advice if you are visiting Japan and you want to travel around to more than one city, don’t come during Golden Week. The price for most things like the Shinkansen and hotels doubles or sometimes triples during Golden Week because everyone travels.

If you are already in Japan like you’re studying abroad or living there I would buy your tickets to travel places way in advance. But also be prepared they’ll probably be crowded. Places like Kyoto and Nara get super crowded. However, so does Tokyo. A lot of people from areas away from Tokyo visit during Golden Week. Its like Disney Land, Disney Sea and Universal will also be super crowded with people and families.

I personally only traveled for a little bit of Golden Week while I was in Japan. That was when I met my fiancé’s family for the first time. We went to Northern Japan and explored a little but we also took the time to go to coffee shops and restaurants in Tokyo we wanted to go to that are normally crowded. Golden Week makes a lot of tourist attractions to be busy but it leaves more local places super empty, which was great for us.

Do you think you would visit Japan during Golden Week? If you have what did you think?