How does Japan mark Labour Day?
ゴールデンウィーク
- Local date
- May 1, 2027
- When is it?
- May 1 is not a public holiday (shukujitsu); the surrounding dates of April 29, May 3, May 4, and May 5 are.
1 May is not a national holiday in Japan, and it is an ordinary working and school day. The holidays sit around it: Showa Day on 29 April, Constitution Day on 3 May, Greenery Day on 4 May and Children's Day on 5 May — four public holidays inside a single week make up Golden Week, with 1 May caught in the middle as a working day. Some companies schedule it as leave on their own, but that is a company decision rather than a national one.
What is this topic?
1 May is International Workers' Day, but no two of these seven places treat it the same way: Taiwan only made it a universal day off under a new act in 2025, mainland China gives two days since its 2024 amendment, Brazil and Indonesia list it as a national holiday, India's national list does not contain it at all, Japan works on 1 May while the days around it are holidays, and the United States puts its Labor Day in September.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.