National Holidays in Japan
Anyone doing business with Japanese will be surprised at their apparently high number of national holidays.
It's easy to forget that Japan is not a 'Christian' country, so Christmas and Easter are normal working days there. In fact, Japan has about the same number of National Holidays as Western countries.
National Holidays in Japan
Despite the apparently large number of Japanese who travel overseas as tourists, many Japanese workers traditionally don't take all their annual leave entitlement. So when the office closes for a National Holiday, those days are especially precious. Try to arrange a tele-conference call on a Japanese national holiday and see how quickly you lose favour with your Japanese customers.
If a national holiday falls on a Sunday, the next day might be taken off. This differs from the West where such a day is always taken off. If a national holiday falls on a Saturday, the previous day is usually not taken off. But in any event, it's worth checking before you make any appointment around those times.
The fiscal year usually begins 1 April (in line with government departments) and is the traditional time for new employees to join a company. Managers are busy around that time for training, welcome reception meetings, etc.
Many of the days change slightly each year. For example, New Year's Day is a national holiday, but if that happens on a weekend day, the following working day is taken as a national holiday.
See Japanese government announcement of official national holidays (in Japanese, but your browser's translator should manage to convert to acceptable English.) The page also gives a good description of each official holiday.
Also see japan-guide.com/e/e2062.html for this year's national holidays plus other days people might take as their annual leave, such as obon.
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