Tokyo school holidays 2026: term dates and calendar

Japan public holidays 2026

Every Tokyo school closes for Japan's national holidays, and the country has more of them than most. Two clusters matter for planning, Golden Week from late April to early May and Silver Week in September. The 2026 dates are below.

Golden Week in 2026 runs from 29 April to 6 May, and Silver Week returns in September with five consecutive days off from 19 to 23 September. These are the busiest domestic travel periods of the year in Japan.

Japanese school term dates 2026

Japanese public schools run an April to March year in three terms. The pattern below covers the year that opens in April 2026, with the long summer break in July and August and shorter winter and spring breaks.

The Japanese summer break is shorter than the European or North American one, around six weeks, and pupils often have holiday homework and club activities through it. The school year ending in March means graduation and entrance ceremonies cluster in spring, not summer.

International school term dates

International schools in Tokyo, including British, American and IB schools, ignore the April to March pattern and run a northern hemisphere August or September to June year. A representative 2025 to 2026 shape, drawn from the calendars these schools publish, is below.

International schools still close for Japanese national holidays, so Golden Week in early May and Silver Week in September appear in their calendars even though the surrounding term structure is foreign. For how the curricula compare, see our curriculum guides, and for the national picture our Japan country guide.

Planning the year

Two planning notes. First, avoid travelling during Golden Week and Silver Week unless you have booked far ahead, because domestic flights, trains and hotels fill and prices peak. The international school summer break from June is a far easier window for leaving Japan. Second, families moving on the Japanese calendar should plan around the spring transition, when the old year ends in March and the new one starts in April, which is also when housing turns over fastest in Tokyo. Budget the year with our Tokyo international school fees guide, then compare schools in the Tokyo schools directory.

Exam season and where families settle

Exam timing in Tokyo depends on the system. International schools sit IB Diploma and IGCSE examinations in May and June, so revision leave clusters before the summer break, while Japanese schools run entrance and end of term examinations across the year with the high stakes university entrance season in January and February. Graduation and entrance ceremonies fall in March and April because the Japanese year turns over then. Expatriate families tend to settle in the central and western wards, around Minato, Setagaya, Meguro and Shibuya, and in the Yokohama area to the south, where most international campuses and their bus routes are based. Lining up the exam windows with Golden Week and the international summer break shows which months are truly open for travel and which are locked into assessment and ceremony.

Common questions

When do schools break up in Tokyo? Japanese schools break for the summer around 21 July 2026 and end the school year in late March. International schools break up for the summer in mid June 2026.

How long is the summer holiday in Tokyo? The Japanese school summer break runs from around 21 July to 31 August, about six weeks, shorter than in many countries. International schools break for around ten weeks from mid June to late August.

When does the 2026 school year start in Tokyo? Japanese schools start the new school year in early April 2026. International schools begin the 2026 to 2027 year in mid to late August 2026.

What are Golden Week and Silver Week? Golden Week is a cluster of national holidays from 29 April to 6 May 2026, and Silver Week is five consecutive days off from 19 to 23 September 2026. All Tokyo schools close and both are peak domestic travel periods.

Do international schools in Tokyo follow the Japanese calendar? No. International schools run a northern hemisphere August or September to June year. They share only Japan's national public holidays with the local April to March calendar.

Related guides

• Tokyo city guide
• Tokyo international school fees
• Japan country guide
• Singapore school holidays 2026