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Golden Week - Wikipedia
Golden Week (Japanese: ﾆ担ﾂーﾆ停?ｹﾆ断ﾆ停?愴脱ﾆ達ﾂーﾆ誰 or 窶ｰﾂｩ窶ｹﾃ?ﾂ週ﾅ?ﾃ? abbreviation: GW) is a Japanese term applied to the period containing the following public holidays:
April 29, Greenery Day (窶堙昶?堙??堙ｨ窶堙娯?愿ｺ)
May 3, Constitution Memorial Day (ﾅ停?ｺ窶邸窶ｹL窶抂窶愿ｺ)
May 4, Bank Holiday (ﾂ坂?倪?督ｯ窶堙娯?ｹx窶愿ｺ, since 1985)
May 5, Children's Day (ﾅｽq窶ｹﾅｸ窶堙娯?愿ｺ, Kodomo no hi), also known as Boys' Day (窶兌ﾅ津溪?堙個静溪?ｹﾃ･, Tango no Sekku)
Note Girls' Festival (Hinamatsuri) is March 3
Note that May Day (May 1) is not a public holiday, but is nevertheless often granted as a holiday by companies.
The term was coined by movie theater operators after a new law in 1948 created the consecutive holidays, and thus increased attendance. At the time, April 29 was a national holiday for the birthday of Emperor Showa, but after his death in 1989, the day was renamed in order to retain Golden Week.
Many Japanese take paid time off on the intervening work days. The longest vacation period of the year, Golden Week is an extremely popular time to travel. Flights, trains and hotels are often fully booked despite higher rates at this time. Even some foreign destinations (such as Asian Countries, Guam, Saipan, Hawaii, and cities on the U.S. west coast such as Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco) are affected during this season by large numbers of Japanese tourists.