How to Take Paid Leave in Japan: 2026 Rules, Days, Requests & Employer Limits

The statutory right generally arises after six months of continuous employment when the employee has attended at least 80% of scheduled working days during that period. The right is based on the Labour Standards Act and is not limited by nationality, job title, or whether the employee is described as full-time, fixed-term, contract, temporary, or part-time.

Some employers grant leave earlier than the statutory deadline or use a common company grant date. Treat the company rule as an improvement over the statutory minimum, not as a replacement for the legal entitlement.

• Check your employment start date and the company’s actual leave grant date.
• Confirm the attendance calculation period used by HR.
• Ask for your leave ledger if the balance or grant date is unclear.

For employees on the standard schedule, the statutory grant is 10 days after six months, then 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 days as continuous service increases. The 20-day level applies from six years and six months of service onward, assuming the attendance requirement continues to be met.

Employees working fewer scheduled days can qualify for proportional leave. A worker with fewer than five scheduled days per week may therefore receive fewer days, while a worker who meets the standard-hours threshold can fall under the ordinary table even if the weekly-day pattern is unusual.

• Standard schedule: 10 days at 6 months.
• 1 year 6 months: 11 days.
• 2 years 6 months: 12 days.
• 3 years 6 months: 14 days.
• 4 years 6 months: 16 days.
• 5 years 6 months: 18 days.
• 6 years 6 months or more: 20 days.

Paid-leave days themselves are treated as attended days for the statutory attendance test. Certain protected absences, including statutory maternity leave, childcare leave, family-care leave, and absence for a work-related injury or illness, are also treated as attendance for this calculation under the applicable rules.

Unused statutory annual leave generally remains valid for two years from the grant date. This means unused leave can usually carry into the following grant year, but older days can expire. A company may provide a longer carryover period or a separate accumulated-leave system.

• Track each grant separately rather than looking only at one total balance.
• Use the oldest valid days first when the company system permits it.
• Save screenshots or records of grants, use, planned leave, and expired days.

The employee normally designates when annual paid leave will be taken. The employer has a limited timing-change right when granting the leave on the requested date would interfere with the normal operation of the business.

That power is about changing the timing, not cancelling the statutory entitlement. A general statement that the workplace is busy does not automatically decide the issue; actual staffing, workload, timing, the length of leave, and the employer’s operational efforts can matter.

• Ask whether the company is denying the leave or proposing another date.
• Request the alternative date in writing when timing is changed.
• Do not simply stay away after a disputed request; preserve records and seek advice quickly.

When a worker is newly granted at least 10 statutory days, the employer must ensure that at least five days are actually taken within one year from the relevant grant date. Days the worker takes by request and days taken under a lawful planned-leave arrangement count toward this minimum.

If fewer than five days have been taken, the employer must designate enough dates after hearing the worker’s wishes and making efforts to respect them. This employer duty does not cap the worker at five days; valid remaining leave can still be requested.

• The rule can cover eligible part-time workers and managers as well as ordinary full-time employees.
• Half-day leave can count in half-day units toward the five-day total.
• Hourly leave does not count toward the mandatory five-day total.

Planned annual leave can be introduced through the required labor-management agreement and can generally apply only to the portion beyond the five days that must remain available to the employee. Company-wide shutdown days are not automatically annual leave unless the proper arrangement exists.

Half-day leave may be permitted under company practice. Hourly annual leave requires the necessary labor-management agreement, and the statutory maximum is the equivalent of five days per year. The workplace rules determine how one day is converted into hours.

• Check whether your workplace offers full-day, half-day, and hourly units.
• Confirm whether a scheduled company closure is annual leave, a company holiday, or another category.
• Do not assume hourly leave exists unless the workplace has introduced it.

Annual paid leave is paid leave, but the calculation method depends on the legally permitted method adopted by the workplace. The work rules may use the average wage, the normal wage that would have been paid for the scheduled hours, or the health-insurance standard daily remuneration method where the required agreement exists.

After taking leave, check the payslip and attendance record. A statutory annual-leave day should not simply appear as an unpaid absence.

• Check the work rules for the wage-calculation method.
• Keep the leave approval and payslip for the same pay period.
• Ask payroll or HR for a written explanation if the amount changes unexpectedly.

Because annual paid leave is not limited by purpose, it can be used for rest, travel, medical appointments, illness, family needs, or personal procedures. Japan does not create a universal separate paid-sick-leave entitlement for every private-sector worker, so whether a more favorable sick-leave system exists depends on the employer’s rules.

For an unexpected same-day absence, contact the employer as soon as possible and ask how the absence will be classified. Do not assume every same-day illness automatically becomes paid annual leave.

Valid annual leave can be requested while the employment relationship still exists. Near the end of employment, the employer cannot move leave to a date after the employment has already ended, so the timing-change right can become practically limited.

Submit the resignation date and leave schedule early, distinguish the last working day from the employment end date, and prepare a clear handover. Statutory annual leave is intended to be taken as rest and cannot routinely be bought out in advance instead of being provided.

• Confirm the employment end date in writing.
• Submit the remaining-leave schedule early.
• Keep handover records separate from the legal entitlement to leave.

Employers should not disadvantage workers because they exercised statutory annual paid leave. Problems can include treating the day as an unauthorized absence or reducing pay or benefits solely because annual leave was taken.

If you suspect unfavorable treatment, keep the leave request, approval, attendance record, payslip, evaluation notice, bonus explanation, messages, and relevant work rules.

First separate a timing dispute from a denial of the entitlement itself. Ask for the reason in writing, request the work-rule provision being relied on, and obtain your annual-leave ledger showing grants, use, planned leave, employer-designated leave, and expired days.

If the issue cannot be resolved internally, you can consult a labor union or employee representative, a Labour Standards Inspection Office or Prefectural Labour Bureau consultation service, or the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s multilingual working-conditions consultation services.

• Keep the original request and response.
• Keep the relevant shift or work schedule.
• Check the grant date, attendance calculation, carryover, and expiration.
• Do not alter or delete portal screenshots or payroll records.

Use these phrases as practical starting points when speaking with HR or a manager. Adjust the wording to your company’s internal procedure, and for any disputed denial, timing change, or balance problem, keep the request and the employer’s response in a traceable written form as well.

• Yūkyū kyūka o shinsei shitai desu. — I would like to request paid leave.
• Yūkyū no zangai nissū o kakunin shitai desu. — I would like to confirm my remaining paid-leave days.
• Fuyobi wa itsu desu ka? — What is my leave grant date?
• Kono hi ni shutoku dekimasu ka? — Can I take leave on this date?
• Henkō ga hitsuyō na riyū to daitai-bi o oshiete kudasai. — Please tell me why the date must be changed and the alternative date.
• Hannichi nenkyū wa tsukaemasu ka? — Can I use half-day annual leave?
• Jikan tani nenkyū no seido wa arimasu ka? — Is hourly annual leave available?