Half of Japan’s workaholic employees ‘unhappy’ about ten-day holiday to mark new emperor

Japan’s notoriously workaholic employees are unhappy about the looming ten-day holiday to mark the abdication of Emperor Akihito after 30 years on the Chrysanthemum Throne.

A series of special holidays to mark Akihito’s stepping-down – and the presumed coronation of his son Crown Prince Naruhito on May 1 – will combine with the annual ‘Golden Week’ of four public holidays into a ten-day break. 

But a survey by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper found 45 per cent of citizens ‘felt unhappy’ about getting a week-and-half off, with only 35 per cent saying they ‘felt happy.’

Some said they would have nowhere to go for a break, while others said they were so busy that they would still have to go to work.

And working parents were also unhappy about having to make alternative childcare arrangements

‘For parents in the service sector, the ten days of holiday is a headache. After-school care, nurseries – everything is closed,’ one tweeted. 

Crown Prince Naruhito (left) is expected to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne with his coronation on May 1, a day after the abdication of his father Emperor Akihito (right)

Pizzeria worker Takeru Jo, 46, said: ‘I won’t be able to take days off. On the contrary, we’ll be super-busy.’ 

‘To be honest, I don’t know how to spend the time when we are suddenly given 10 days of holidays,’ finance worker Seishu Sato, 31, complained. 

‘If you want to go traveling, it’s going to be crowded everywhere and tour costs have surged… I might end up staying at my parents’ place.’  

Retirement: Emperor Akihito will abdicate on April 30 after 30 years on the Chrysanthemum Throne

‘Most of our tours for the holiday period were sold out last year,’ said Nippon Travel Agency spokesman Hideki Wakamatsu, who added that many people were on the firm’s waiting list. 

But widespread discontent over the marathon holiday has not affected public goodwill towards the emperor.

Emperor Akihito, who will step down on April 30, and his wife Michiko 

In a poll by public broadcaster NHK, few admitted to a ‘feeling of antipathy’ towards the monarch, while the great majority said they had a ‘positive feeling’ or ‘respect’ towards Akihito.  

Professor of politics Takeshi Hara from the Open University of Japan told AFP the public affection for Akihito and his wife Michiko was due to their ‘welfare-related activities.’

‘Their attention to the elderly, the disabled and the victims of natural disasters – those ignored by politicians in the past three decades – has earned public support,’ Hara said.

Professor Hara added that Akihito was the first emperor to marry ‘for love’, which had boosted his popularity.

Hideto Tsuboi of the Kyoto-based International Research Centre for Japanese Studies said Akihito’s good standing was because he was ‘conscious of the responsibility of the post-war generation’ to take responsibility for Japanese war crimes during WWII.

Akihito expressed ‘deep remorse’ for the atrocities committed under the reign of his father Hirohito on the 73rd anniversary of the war’s end last year.