Japan’s Year Begins in April

The academic year of schools in Japan, including that of elementary, junior and senior high schools, and universities, begins in April. The national fiscal year also begins in April and ends in March the following year. So does the fiscal year of many Japanese companies. Therefore, new employees start working in April. For Japanese people, April is the month the new year starts. April is the season in which the Japanese symbolic flower, the cherry blossom, blooms, and people can make a new start to their year among the beautiful flowerfilled atmosphere.

The previous month, March, is when people often move. Thousands of people begin to move from their current locations into the cities where schools and companies are concentrated, and this results in the changing of apartment building inhabitants. As part of the moving process, people will require many necessities of daily life including refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and also items for learning such as desks and dictionaries. On the other hand, lots of people start to learn something new with a fresh mind at the beginning of the new year. This is the best time for the companies to do business.

Many schools have three terms. The first term runs from early April to the middle of July, the second term runs from early September to mid-December, and the third term runs from early January to the middle of March. Students will have a summer vacation for about 40 days between the first and second terms. They will also have about two weeks off for winter holidays between the second and third terms. There is also an approximately two-week spring holiday between the third and new terms.

Japanese have many holidays
Except for students, Japanese people do not have a custom of taking long vacations. In Japan, however, there are week-long holidays three times a year. These holidays are the so-called "Golden Week," which runs from the end of April to the beginning of May, the "Bon" holiday, which run for a week before and after August 15, and the New Year?s holiday, which extends from the end of December into early January.

In western countries, it is common for people to take a vacation of around a month, but as for national holidays, Japan has 15 days, while the U.S.A. has 10 days and Britain (England), has 8 days. It can be said then, that Japanese have more holidays if you include national holidays. Furthermore, like westerners, most Japanese companies do not open on Saturdays and Sundays. At one stage, Japanese were criticized for being workaholics, but now it is believed they work less than Americans.

In Japan, there is a regulation in the Labor Standards Act that an employee can take paid holidays for more than 10 days. And it is common for those who have worked for several years to take paid holidays of more than 20 days. In Japan, the working environment is not always suitable for employees to take holidays, as many Japanese think they may bother their co-workers, or they may be ill spoken of by their superiors, and other reasons. However, the awareness of employees is rapidly changing due to the progress of globalization.

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