In an effort to boost the domestic tourism industry and encourage hard-pressed Japanese workers to use their paid annual leave, Japan is considering rolling out a ‘Kids Week’ holiday period.
Starting in 2018, the government wants to designate five days’ holiday during July and August which would be spread out at different times across the regions to avoid holiday traffic congestion and the inevitable peak season pricing.
It would boost the domestic travel market by about 400 billion yen, the Mizuho Research Institute says but would likely find resistance due to the Japanese working culture.
When the idea was first mooted in May, a poll by Yahoo News Japan found 66% of people opposed it, saying a week-long family holiday away from work was impractical.
That is generally in line with a Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare survey which polled more than 4,000 firms in 2015, and found less than half (48.7%) took paid leave.
"It’s both an issue of workers’ mentality as well as ways of management," researcher Akio Doteuchi told the Japan Times.
