Disclaimer: Since official English terms and translations are rarely fixed or agreed upon across sources and documents and some may even overlap in translation, it is best to learn and use the Japanese terms when referring to each topic and to keep the English terms in mind simply for your own reference.
Everyone can use a vacation every now and then. Especially with the fast-paced lifestyle of Japanese workers, things can get a little overwhelming sometimes. For that, employees in Japan are given paid leave. This allows employees to enjoy a well-deserved vacation without having to worry about salary deductions.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to calculate your leave entitlements and how to earn them. To learn more about the other types of leave and holidays, check out our guide here.
Table of Contents
What is Paid Leave 有休?
The yūkyū（有休）is an employee benefit that you can use to take time off from your regular work schedule. Days when you normally do not work are not considered yūkyū.
To receive your yūkyū, you must have worked for your company for 6 months and have been present at work for at least 80% of that period. Although the former is standard, the implementation of the latter may be different from company to company. Be sure to check with your employer on the requirements for receiving your yūkyū.
From there, the amount of yūkyū given to you depends both on your length of service to the company (starting at 0.5 years up to 6.5 years when the maximum allowance is reached) and your working conditions.
Paid Leave Calculation
| Years of Service | 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 6.5+ |
| Paid Leave Entitlement | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 |
| *This applies to fixed working time (i.e. 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Mon-Fri). | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of fixed working days per week | Total number of fixed working days per year | Paid Leave Entitlement | ||||||
| 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 6.5+ | ||
| 4 days/week | 169-216 days/year | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 15 |
| 3 days/week | 121-168 days/year | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 2 days/week | 73-120 days/year | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| 1 days/week | 48-72 days/year | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| *This applies to 4 days or less per week and 30 hours or less per week of work. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In Japan, your employer is legally obligated to grant you at least 5 of your paid leave entitlements every year. All unused leaves will carry over to the following year, but not beyond.
For example, assuming that throughout an entire year you only used the required 5-day yūkyū and had 5 left unused. In the following year, your paid leave entitlement would incorporate the unused 5 days from the previous year.
Please also take care to note that when your yūkyū entitlements refresh may depend on when you were hired by the company or on the company’s own rules. Also, since sick leave is not usually a separate benefit for employees, yūkyū is often seen as a combination of vacation and sick leave.
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Glossary
| Japanese | Pronunciation | |
| Paid Leave | 有休・有給休暇 | yūkyū・yūkyū kyūka |
| to take paid leave | 有休を取ります | yūkyū wo torimasu |
References
Featured image by Josiah Weiss on Unsplash
2 Comments
Ask about who can avail of yūkyū-kyūka example i worked about 6 years straight and 40 hours weekly can i avail 20 days leave with pay?
Hello Hangad,
Thank you for your question. Paid leave is an employee’s right, but your contract might not start at 20 days straight away. The longer you stay, the more paid leave days you are able to take. The same goes for full-time employees.
Check how many days you get in your contract and how many extra you get for staying longer at your company. The following articles might help you:
https://thetokyolife.jp/paid-leave/
https://thetokyolife.jp/leave-and-holidays-in-japan/
We hope this is of some help to you.
With warm regards,
The Tokyo Life