Below is a list of the 2024 Japanese National Holidays.

Further down, we will also talk about how the Japanese Public Holidays’ significance and how they are celebrated.

There is also a list of the 2025 Japanese National Holidays.

Throughout the page we’ve also created a number of images (including the one you can see here) that you can download, share and save.

Let’s learn about the Japanese National Holidays in more detail now!

First up, the dates for 2024.

Japanese Holidays | Japanese Holidays in 2024

Japanese Holidays | Japanese Holidays in 2025

Japanese Holidays | How Does Japan Celebrate Holidays?

Japanese Holidays | FAQ’s

New Year’s Day is officially known as 元日 (がんじつ ganjitsu).

The celebrations on New Year’s Day are commonly referred to as 正月（しょうがつ shogatsu).

On this day, people typically dress up and go with families or friends to visit shrines to make wishes for the upcoming year.

These wishes include good health, passing exams, and luck in love.

At the shrines, people will also draw fortunes which are said to determine their luck for the upcoming year, ranging from very bad to very good.

If you draw a bad or very bad luck fortune, you can tie it to a tree branch, which is said to ward away the bad luck.

Setsubun celebrates the arrival of Spring.

On this day, people throw fukumame, or roasted soybeans, out of the front door, and shout “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (Devils out! Fortunes in!) before slamming the door.

This practice symbolically purifies the home and banishes bad luck and illness for the next year.

After throwing the fukumame, the participants then eat one fukumame for each year of their life, plus one more for good luck.

These two days are linked together! Valentine’s Day, as in the rest of the world, takes place on February 14th.

In Japan, February the 14th is a day when women give two kinds of chocolate away. Obligation chocolate, which is typically small and store-bought, and homemade chocolate.

Homemade chocolate is given to significant others and crushes, whereas obligation chocolate is given to friends, coworkers, classmates, etc.

Notice we only mentioned women and not men.

That’s because…

White Day, which takes place a month later, is the reciprocal day where men who have received chocolate from a woman give her a gift in return that comes out to an equal value.

Tanabata is celebrated in July and August, and is known in English as the Star Festival.

While the date of the festival takes place varies by region, it celebrates the meeting of Orihime and Hikoboshi.

Orihime and Hikoboshi are a pair of lovers who are separated by the Milky Way and can only meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar (hence the name 七夕 (Tanabata) which has the Chinese character for seven in it.

On this day, people write wishes on small pieces of paper and hang them on bamboo, which is often burned or set afloat after the festival.

In Japan, Christmas is very different from how it is celebrated in the West.

DID YOU KNOW | Only 1% of Japanese people are Christian.

Due to this, Christmas is essentially a commercial holiday in Japan.

It is seen as similar to Valentine’s Day, with people going on dates with their significant others.

Families will sometimes eat a cake together, and children may receive gifts.

A tree may also be put up. Schools and offices will often have parties.