Government Work Resumption Day

What Is Government Work Resumption Day?

Every January 4th is "Government Work Resumption Day" (官公庁御用始め, Kankōchō Oyōhajime) in Japan. By law, Japan's national government agencies observe December 29th through January 3rd as a holiday period (行政機関の休日, gyōsei kikan no kyūjitsu) — making January 4th the day on which government offices reopen and official administrative business resumes after the New Year holiday (if the 4th falls on a weekend, the following Monday). This December 29 to January 3 holiday for government offices dates back to 1873 (Meiji 6) and is now set by the 1988 Act on Holidays of Administrative Organs. The term "Oyōhajime" (御用始め, literally "the beginning of official duties") captures the formal recommencement of governmental function after the most important holiday period in Japan's calendar.

New Year in Japan: The Most Important Holiday

Japan's New Year (お正月, Oshōgatsu) is by far the country's most important holiday period — equivalent in cultural weight to Christmas in Western countries, but more profoundly embedded in social and cultural practice. The three days of New Year (January 1-3) are when families gather, shrine and temple visits (hatsumode) are made, traditional New Year foods (osechi ryōri) are eaten, and the new year is welcomed with specific rituals and observances. The extension of the holiday to include December 29-31 (year-end) and January 1-3 creates Japan's standard "New Year holiday" of approximately one week.

Business and the New Year

January 4th's government resumption is mirrored in the private sector — most Japanese companies resume work on January 4th (or the first weekday of the New Year), with the official recommencement of business sometimes marked by "Shigoto-hajime-shiki" (仕事始め式, work-opening ceremony) events, though some organizations have scaled back or dropped such ceremonies in recent years. These ceremonies vary from formal address by company presidents to simple morning meetings, but all mark the transition from holiday to working year — a collective act of recommitment that reflects Japan's organizational culture.

Fun Facts

• Kadomatsu timing: The traditional pine and bamboo New Year decorations (門松, kadomatsu) placed at entrances are typically removed after January 7th — the end of "matsu no uchi" (松の内, the period when the pine decorations are up) — or in some regions after January 15th, marking the end of the formal New Year period.
• Nengajō: Japan Post delivers an enormous volume of New Year greeting cards (年賀状, nengajō) on January 1st through the first days of January — a tradition that generates hundreds of millions of card mailings annually, maintained even as digital communication displaces other paper correspondence.