Traveling During the Winter Holiday Season

Asian Travel

If you are going to travel to Japan in December or January, you should avoid visit this country during the last week of December to the first week in January because it is one of the busiest travel seasons in Japan when most people take vacations or holidays. You will find really hard to find accommodations as well as means of transportation at that time. You should make seat reservations in advance if you want to take long-distance trains. Additionally, it is not easy to seats on non-reserved cars during the peak travel season.

1. Christmas

Japanese doesn’t consider Christmas as a national holiday, so all of school and companies are open it doesn’t falls on a weekend. That’s the reason why you can choose Christmas Day to visit Japan and it is not as bad as in Western countries. Another thing you should remember is that couples often enjoy a romantic time together at hotels or restaurants at Christmas Eve. Hence, you need to reserve as soon as possible for any plan of going out on Christmas Eve.

2. New Year’s holidays

In Japan, New Year’s holidays play an important role. And people often make a family reunion rather quietly on New Year’s Eve. Because a lot of people often go out of Tokyo for a vacation, so it becomes quieter than usual except store sale, temples or shrines and etc. Hence, it must be a good idea for you to stay in Tokyo this period. You will have chance to get good deals for luxurious hotels. In contrast, snow resorts and onsen hot springs are overloaded with tourists and visitors. Therefore, if you are planning to enjoy yourself at onsen or snow sports destinations, you should make a reservation in advance.

There is a fact that almost organizations in Japan, including hospitals are closed from the 29th or 30th of December to 3rd or 4th of January, which depends on the types of business and the day of week. Nowadays, many department stores, convenience stores, supermarkets and restaurants are also open during New Year’s holidays.