National Jul 23, 2020
Travelers cautious of virus as Japan four-day weekend starts
The national holidays began a day after the Go To Travel subsidy campaign was launched to help revive the domestic tourism industry.
National Dec 28, 2019
Japanese heading home for New Year's holidays crowd trains and airports
People heading to their hometowns or going abroad for the New Year’s holidays crowd train stations, airports and roads in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
National Dec 22, 2019
In Japan, 10% unlikely to take year-end or New Year's holidays
A survey has found that 10.6 percent of the nation's workers will likely be unable to take even a single day off during the nine-day year-end and New Year's holiday period from Saturday to Jan. 5. The proportion of respondents who can possibly take all ...
National Dec 15, 2019
60% of Japanese eat something special for Christmas, poll finds
A recent Jiji Press survey has shown that 57.4 percent of people in Japan eat something special for Christmas and that about half of such people buy take-out food. The proportion of respondents who said they have a special meal to celebrate Christmas every year ...
Business Dec 2, 2019
Nintendo out to prove Switch's longevity this holiday season
by Yuki Furukawa
Nintendo Co.'s Switch console is poised for its best holiday shopping season yet. The company will probably sell 9.46 million units of Switch hardware and 64.73 million units of software in the quarter ending in December, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. While the ...
Business Oct 15, 2019
Walmart seen subsidizing vendors in online holiday price war with Amazon
by Matthew Boyle
Hold on to your smartphone — the holiday price wars between Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are heating up. Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has introduced a program to temporarily lower the price consumers pay for some items on its marketplace site, where third-party vendors ...
Business Aug 20, 2019
Domestic travelers dropped during Japan's Bon summer holidays thanks to typhoon
People who traveled in Japan by rail, air and road decreased from a year earlier during the Bon summer holidays due to a heavy storm. The six passenger service companies of the Japan Railways Group said 13.56 million people used bullet and other express trains ...
National Aug 13, 2019
13 die across Japan while taking part in leisure activities during public holiday
Thirteen people died and at least 27 were injured across the country during leisure activities Monday, a public holiday, according to a Kyodo News tally collected Tuesday. At a beach in Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, a pair of elementary school-aged brothers were found to be drowning, ...
National Aug 10, 2019
Stations, airports, expressways congested as travelers leave for summer vacations
With thousands of people heading off for their summer vacations on Saturday, many places, such as railway stations, expressways and airports, were crowded with travelers. The annual Bon holiday season began the same day. Many shinkansen bullet trains reached over 100 percent occupancy in unreserved carriages, ...
National Jul 31, 2019
O-Bon holiday could last nine days for some Japanese workers, but not everyone is happy about it
For many in Japan, this year's Bon holiday period in mid-August may be expanded to nine consecutive days, but not everyone is excited about the idea of a long break due to fears that their work will keep piling up. Mountain Day, a national holiday ...
National May 7, 2019
Back to the grind: Workers in Japan return after extended Golden Week holiday
The nation went back to work following this year's unprecedented 10-day Golden Week holiday on Tuesday — the first working day of the Reiwa Era. Naoto Tokunaga, 24, showed up at his office near Tokyo Station 30 minutes earlier than usual because he was impatient ...