Topic: Days for Elders and Grandparents
How does Japan mark Days for Elders and Grandparents?
敬老の日
- Local date
- September 21, 2026
- When is it?
- The third Monday of September
Japan's Respect for the Aged Day is named in the Act on National Holidays. It was fixed on 15 September until 2003, when the Happy Monday system moved it to the third Monday of September so that it would join the weekend. It is the only one of the seven that closes the country, and closing changes what the day contains: with three days, travelling to see an elderly parent becomes possible, and department-store campaigns, municipal congratulations to centenarians and longevity celebrations all cluster there. In some years the third Monday and the Autumnal Equinox leave exactly one working day between them; by law that day becomes a citizens' holiday too, stretching the break to five days — what people there call Silver Week.
What is this topic?
All seven markets set aside a day for their oldest members, and no two of them put it in the same place on the calendar. Taiwan's Grandparents' Day is the fourth Sunday of August, promoted by the Ministry of Education since 2010, with no day off. Japan's Respect for the Aged Day is a public holiday on the third Monday of September. China writes the Double Ninth into its law on the rights of the elderly and calls it Seniors' Day — and still does not close for it. What differs is not only the date but where the day stands institutionally: statute in one place, an education campaign in another, a local edition of a United Nations day in a third.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.