How Long is Summer Break in Japan in 2025?
Last Updated on April 18, 2025 by Kay
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If you’re traveling in Japan, you might be wondering when exactly school vacations are for local students in the country.
Summer is a time when students around the world, including Japan, get time off from school and get to enjoy vacation. However, this means that popular tourist destinations can be quite crowded. I say this as a mom of a school-age kid living in Japan — summer in Japan can be very bonkers with children.
When traveling with kids, this might be an unavoidable period to travel. But just so you’re aware, here are the approximate vacation periods in Japan for students starting from preschool all the way to university.
Summer vacation in Japan ranges from 26 days to 42 days long for students in kindergarten through high school. University students in Japan have the longest summer vacation, which lasts about 50 to 60 days.
Note that summer vacation starts and ends on different days depending on the prefecture; however, they will only vary by one or two days, so the dates in this article are average start and end dates.
Prefectures near Tokyo (such as Chiba and Tochigi) have the longest summer vacations at 40-42 days, meaning that Tokyo might be quite crowded during this time.
Summer vacations in Tokyo and Osaka are about 35 days long on average. The shortest summer vacation period in Japan is in Hokkaido, at only 26 days long.
⭐️ Monday, July 21, 2025, is a national holiday in Japan called Marine Day (Umi no Hi), so expect that day as well as the weekend before it (July 19th and 20th) to be busy.
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Summer Break for Preschoolers in Japan
Summer vacation for preschoolers and kindergarteners (these are the same thing in Japan) runs from July 22nd to the end of August.
Preschool/kindergarten (called yochien in Japanese) lasts for three years for kids ages three to six years old.
Summer Break for Elementary School in Japan
Summer vacation for elementary school in Japan is from July 22nd to August 26th.
Make sure to read my article packed with a local mom’s advice on how to handle the summer heat in Japan with kids.
Summer Break for Junior High School in Japan
Summer vacation for junior high school in Japan runs from July 22nd to August 26th.
Summer Break for High School in Japan
Summer vacation for high school students in Japan lasts from July 22nd to August 26th.
Summer Break for University in Japan
Summer vacation for university students in Japan starts from the beginning of August until the end of September.
Obon Period
Another important time to note when traveling in Japan is Obon. This is about a week-long holiday where families go back to their hometown to pay respect for the dead. This isn’t a national holiday period, but workplaces give their employees paid time off for it.
Obon in 2025 runs from Wednesday, August 13th, to Saturday, August 16th. Just like other long holiday periods in Japan, it’s likely that company employees will take the days before and after the holiday period off for an extended vacation. In this case, people will take August 9th and 10th off, as well as the 12th, especially since August 11th is a national holiday (Mountain Day).
Public transportation can be quite crowded during this time, so it’s best to try not to travel to other cities and stay in the one you’re in.
Summer Vacations in Other Countries
It’s important to keep in mind that summer is one of the busiest travel periods in Japan. This is because students in other countries around the world also have summer vacations (or winter, depending on the hemisphere), so their families visit Japan.
For example, students in China have their summer vacation starting as early as the end of June and ending in September, while in South Korea, summer vacation is from the end of June to the beginning of August.
So expect popular tourist attractions during this time, like Tokyo Disney, to be more crowded than usual.