Regional choices and the scope of Lunar New Year leave

A joint report by Online Resort × Enjourney
Editorial update: 9 November 2026 JST | Forward travel window: December 2026–May 2027

Statistical periods, release stages and the scope of rules and calendars are stated below. Japanese event and sales times are JST; origin-market holidays use the local calendar.

The mix of hot springs, streetscapes and nature depends on previous visits and companions. This edition pairs spending evidence with a clearly scoped civil-service holiday calendar and Japanese events. Winter-to-spring choices include the timing of tickets, transport and accommodation as well as the event itself.

Booking dates to put on the calendar now

• If the January Tokyo itinerary includes sumo, note the 5 December advance-sale opening. The January tournament runs from 10–24 January 2027. Verify the desired day, seat type and sales route; the published tournament dates do not guarantee a seat. Japan Sumo Association

• For April’s Miyako Odori, connect the itinerary to the 6 January, 10:00 JST scheduled ticket release. Performances run from 1–30 April 2027. Identify the desired date and performance, then verify ticket types and booking conditions. Gion Kobu Kabukai

December 2026–May 2027 | Travel and booking dates

Base calendar checked on 4 November 2026, with additions on 5 November and targeted updates on 9 November. Record-level check dates are retained. Japanese event and ticket-sale times are JST; origin-market holidays use local calendar dates.

Taiwan’s 2027 working calendar from the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration gives government administrative agencies a seven-day Lunar New Year break from 4 to 10 February. It also lists breaks from 27 February to 1 March, 3 to 6 April, and 30 April to 2 May. This is an administrative-agency calendar, not a uniform holiday entitlement for private-sector employees or schools, nor proof that everyone can travel on those days. See the agency’s explanation of scope and substitutions.

A holiday period does not settle the day of an event

The government-agency Lunar New Year break overlaps the planned Nagasaki Lantern Festival period, 5–21 February. Activities will not necessarily be identical on every day of that period. The official programme should determine which location, time and attendance terms suit a visit. Whether the Taiwan holiday applies to a particular traveller depends on their school or employer.

The Sapporo International Art Festival 2027 has a long main period, 16 January to 21 February, but the 15 January online advance-ticket deadline applies specifically to Sapporo Citizens Gallery. Other venues have their own tickets and closing days. Choosing an exhibition first makes those distinctions useful.

The government-agency calendar also shows a break on 3–6 April, overlapping the 1–30 April Miyako Odori performance period. Tickets are due on sale at 10:00 on 6 January. Check the chosen performance time and whether the ticket includes tea. This overlap says nothing about when cherry blossoms will peak.

The next issue will update Nagasaki’s programme, Kyoto’s ticket categories and availability, and reservations and transport for the Yokohama expo. Lunar New Year and spring breaks must be read against each traveller’s actual calendar.

Booking GREEN×EXPO for a group itinerary

Early-bird one-day tickets went on sale on 19 March 2026, with sales ending on 18 March 2027. Admission date/time reservations and shuttle or parking bookings are separate. Coaches need advance bookings for the north or west parking areas; do not arrange roadside drop-off or pick-up around the venue. Direct buses from Haneda Airport and other hubs remain in planning. Treat them as unconfirmed transport until timetables, fares and booking methods are published. Organiser’s sales announcement Official tickets Access information

General groups require at least 15 visitors entering together, excluding the escort. The general-group discount ticket requires at least 15 users of that ticket type. The full-reservation deadline is 10 days before the day preceding the visit for general groups, or 30 days for school groups. Confirmation by linking ticket IDs must be completed four days before the visit. Website cancellation is unavailable after full-reservation approval; confirmed general-group bookings cannot be changed, cancelled or refunded. School groups have a limited exception for unavoidable reductions in pupil numbers. Check the headcount and each deadline with the authorised seller. Group-booking FAQ

Kyoto experiences with specific dates and booking conditions

Fukujuen Kyoto’s tea-making experience and tea-inspired French lunch are listed for 3, 10 and 17 December 2026, and 7, 14, 21 and 28 January 2027, from 11:15 to around 14:00. Each session has six places, with a booking cut-off four days in advance. Booking is online only, with advance card payment; telephone reservations are not accepted. These are separate session dates, not a continuous season. Confirm dietary accommodation, the guiding language, interpreter accompaniment and remaining places with the provider. Kyoto’s official tourism site: Fukujuen

Daikakuji’s special Shoshinden visit and sutra-copying experience at Teikokan are listed for 20 and 27 February 2027, 10:00–12:00. Each session is limited to 24 participants and requires booking at least five days in advance. Choose this religious-cultural experience according to the participants’ interests and wishes, and confirm the guiding language, interpreter accompaniment and availability. These two listings do not verify the full cultural-property opening programme for the 61st Kyoto Winter Journey. Kyoto’s official tourism site: Daikakuji

Market evidence | Arrivals, expenditure and reference periods

JNTO’s September 2026 nationality/region table estimates 595,600 visitor arrivals in its Taiwan row, up 13.0% from September 2025. Its January–September figure is 5,997,600, up 19.1%. JNTO names Taiwan among markets with a September record. The figure measures visitor arrivals of several purposes, not the number of distinct Taiwanese residents who visited Japan for the first time. JNTO September table; JNTO release.

The Japan Tourism Agency's first preliminary July–September estimate puts travel expenditure attributed to Taiwan at ¥381.8 billion, up 26.2% year on year and the largest named market total in that table. For the same quarter, general visitors excluding cruise passengers numbered an estimated 1.904 million, up 15.5%; average expenditure per such visitor was ¥199,028, up 9.6%. Both count and average moved upwards in the quarter. This does not say that every visitor spent that amount, nor does it yield a September-only expenditure estimate. JTA first-estimate tables.

The quarterly expenditure release adds a different measure; its population needs to stay labeled, and later revisions should be watched.

Spending allocation and traveller profile

Statistics rechecked on 4 November 2026. The source is the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) July–September 2026 first preliminary survey. This entry covers general visitors classified under the Taiwan nationality/region category, travelling for tourism and leisure; the survey-defined cruise category is excluded. It does not count departures from that country or region or November bookings. Spending is nominal JPY per person per trip and includes estimated domestic-Japan spending within package-tour payments. International passenger fares paid to Japanese airlines and shipping companies are excluded. JTA 2026 workbook

Compare spending and stays within the same trip-purpose group

Tourism/leisure spending was JPY 188,920, +12.5% year on year (the published JTA rate), with an average stay of 6.1 nights. The unweighted respondent counts were 549 in 2025 and 698 in 2026. Mean nights include same-day, zero-night visits. 2025 final workbook 2026 first-preliminary workbook JTA summary

For all trip purposes, including business and visiting relatives, the 2026 estimate was JPY 199,028, +9.6% year on year, and 7.0 nights on average. This is a different respondent group; its mean is not an individual leisure traveller’s budget. JTA summary

Six spending categories: the two comparable quarters

The total year-on-year percentage is published by JTA. Category changes are editorial calculations from the two workbooks, not a published category-growth series; 2026 shares are published workbook values. Changes were calculated before rounding, so subtracting the two displayed yen amounts can differ from the displayed change by about one yen. Rounded rows may also differ from the rounded total by a few yen. These nominal comparisons do not isolate inflation, exchange rates, stay length or traveller composition. 2025 workbook 2026 workbook

Selected purchases, with their respondent counts

The purchase rate is a weighted share. The purchaser count is unweighted; dividing it by the market sample does not reproduce the rate. The conditional mean is spending among purchasers, not the price of one product or willingness to pay. These purchase measures concern spending during the Japan visit and differ from the package-inclusive six-category figures above. Mean purchaser spending is withheld below 30 purchasers; * marks 30–99 purchasers. This is an editorial caution, not an official significance test. JTA Reference Table 5

Traveller composition

These are separate questions; do not multiply the rates into an unreported joint group. The website-application item in questionnaire E3 concerns tour products or international return air/sea tickets, not all hotel and activity bookings. “Individually arranged” does not mean every component was booked directly by the traveller. JTA Reference Table 4 Questionnaire E3

Planning implication (editorial proposal): Repeat visits and family/relatives are separate published questions; do not multiply the shares into a family-repeat-visitor rate. Confirm ages, room allocation and luggage, then verify driving documents/rental conditions or public-transport timings. Place a regional overnight stay around the traveller's city shopping plans.

Historical context for visit frequency and destinations

JTA analysis based on final 2024 data found that more than half of first-time visitors also visited regional areas. Confirm the present traveller’s destinations separately. JTA analysis based on final 2024 data, printed p.3

Timing: July–September 2025 is final; the same quarter in 2026 is first preliminary and subject to revision. Any 2024 regional analysis above is historical context, not evidence of Q3 2026 or November behaviour. Statistics rechecked on 4 November 2026.

Foreign guest-nights in August 2026: top five prefectures

Second preliminary release, published 30 October. Classification is by nationality/origin, covering establishments with 20 or more rooms. The national total for this market is 1,986,560 guest-nights.

Shares use the same market, month and facility scope and are rounded to one decimal. ＊ marks an estimated standard error rate of at least 30%. Guest-nights are not unique people, rooms, November bookings or available inventory. Rounding can prevent prefecture sums from matching the national total. The stratification basis changed in January 2026. JTA source, Reference Table 1 (August) · Release

When paid tours and activities were booked

Among Taiwan respondents, 49.3% reported booking paid tours or activities before departure (n=546). Make Kansai experiences usable during itinerary planning as well as on arrival. Include directions from the nearest station, operating languages, duration and cancellation deadlines on the product page.

Source: Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau’s FY2025 Kansai Airport exit survey, published May 2026. Four waves covered May, August–September and November–December 2025, and February–March 2026 at Terminal 1 international departures. The full sample was 4,381 departing foreign travellers, excluding transit; it included all trip purposes, not only leisure. Respondents selected one booking-stage category for paid tours/activities during their Japan trip. Each nationality’s full respondent base includes non-participants. Results were adjusted by nationality, not by age or sex. They are not nationally representative, do not isolate experiences located in Kansai, and do not measure days before departure or JTA’s package/international-ticket application channel. OCTB final report, printed pp.2, 10, 12–13, 58–59

The suggested Kansai product presentation is an editorial application of this limited observation, not a demonstrated national preference or sales effect.

Interests and individual requirements

JNTO’s strategy identifies travellers in their 30s–40s who have visited Japan four or more times and travel with family or relatives as a segment for hot springs, regional townscapes, scenery and theme parks, with practical transport information for those travelling with children. A separate segment of returning couples and friends in their 20s–40s is linked to nature, townscapes, hiking, local food and cafés. JNTO segment strategy First ask about visit history, places already seen, companions’ ages and tolerance for walking and transfers. Offer regional food as a choice, then ask about dishes and dietary restrictions rather than assuming shared preferences. Confirm ryokan dinner times and any requested meal changes with the property before booking. Japan Tourism Agency ryokan Q&A For hot springs or theme parks with children, confirm age conditions and transport; for hiking, check ascent and duration with the provider. Even frequent visitors have different places they have not yet seen, so ask before choosing a return destination.

Entry procedures and eligibility

The Japan–Taiwan Exchange Association explains the short-stay visa-waiver scope for eligible Taiwan residents seeking entry for up to 90 days. Its terms do not automatically cover paid work, and the individual passport and purpose still matter. A calendar and a visa rule answer different questions. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Note 4 limits the Taiwan waiver to passport holders whose passport contains a personal ID number. Taiwan residence alone does not establish eligibility; passport and activity still need checking.

Shopping from November | The payment and refund sequence

Eligible tax-free sales moved to the refund method for purchases made from 1 November 2026. An eligible purchaser pays the tax-inclusive price at an authorised tax-free shop, obtains customs confirmation on departure within 90 days counted from the day after purchase, and then receives the consumption-tax equivalent from the retailer or its refund provider. The purchase date determines the changeover, not the date of entry. The usual threshold is at least JPY 5,000 excluding tax in eligible purchases by the same person at the same shop on the same day, subject to the applicable rules. Nationality alone does not establish purchaser eligibility. National Tax Agency, rules as at 1 November 2026

Goods consumed during the trip and goods carried out of Japan need careful handling. Customs checks operate at purchase-record level, normally corresponding to one sale or receipt. If any eligible item in that record is missing at the check, the other items in the same record cannot receive confirmation either. The shop can explain how the purchases are recorded. National Tax Agency, refund-method explanation

Complete the process before checking in the goods as baggage. For a domestic-to-international connection, customs confirmation takes place at the final airport of departure from Japan. Check baggage collection and re-checking arrangements with the airline and allow for a possible inspection. The official guidance does not allow checked baggage to be retrieved simply to complete the tax-free process. Japan Tourism Agency, traveller guidance

At Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha, the Visit Japan Web online procedure is available within designated international-departure lobby areas connected to the dedicated wireless network. This online route is limited to people with Temporary Visitor, Diplomat or Official status of residence; Japanese nationals cannot use it. Tax-free purchasing eligibility and eligibility for this online route are different conditions. A request for inspection still requires attendance at customs, and completion of the customs procedure does not mean the refund has arrived. Japan Tourism Agency, eligibility and location National Tax Agency, online-procedure FAQ

Refund methods, timing and contact details depend on the shop or refund provider. Budget for the tax-inclusive payment separately from the expected refund. July–September spending predates the new system and cannot demonstrate its effect on shopping. National Tax Agency, sales and refund procedure

If a purchase record is wrong or missing. Contact the shop about incorrect details. A missing record may still be awaiting transmission by the shop; allow some time or ask the shop to check. National Tax Agency FAQ Q3-3/Q3-4 As a practical recommendation, travel companies can retain the shop and refund provider's contact details in the traveller's documents.

What the next edition will update

The December edition will move the travel window to January–June 2027. It will recheck the overlapping January–May dates, sales conditions and holiday eligibility, add June, and identify the reference period and release stage of any new statistics. Newly verified dates, changed conditions and closed applications will be distinguished in the update record.

Release availability checked on 9 November. October arrival estimates are scheduled for 18 November at 16:15 JST, and the second preliminary July–September inbound-spending release for 24 December. Check the actual released tables, including whether a separate market category is present, before updating. Planned release dates are not already-published results. JNTO schedule JTA schedule

September first-preliminary accommodation totals are already available, but this report’s nationality-by-prefecture comparison uses August second-preliminary figures for establishments with at least 20 guest rooms. September second-preliminary results are scheduled for 30 November. JTA / 観光庁・宿泊統計 公表予定 / Release schedule