Leave by country / Japan
Japan annual leave entitlement
How much paid leave people in Japan get, what happens to unused days, and what you owe when someone leaves — in plain English, whether you run a team there or work on one.
Japan guarantees 10 days of paid annual leave after six months of continuous service with at least 80% attendance, rising to 20 days after six and a half years, under Article 39 of the Labor Standards Act. Employers must make sure at least five days are taken each year. Unused leave lapses after two years and, unusually, the law does not require it to be paid out when employment ends.
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What the law actually says
Article 39 grants 10 days of paid leave to an employee who has worked continuously for six months and attended at least 80% of working days. The entitlement rises by one day a year to 12 days, then by two days a year to a cap of 20 days after six and a half years of service; part-time employees on fewer days a week receive a proportionally reduced entitlement. Since April 2019 employers must ensure that employees entitled to 10 or more days actually take at least five of them each year, and can be fined for failing to.
Worth knowing: Untaken leave expires two years after it is granted under the two-year limitation period for claims. Japan is unusual in that the law does not require unused leave to be paid for when employment ends, although many employers do so by contract or on request.
What happens to unused leave in Japan
Annual paid leave in Japan can be carried into the following year, but days not used within two years of being granted lapse under the Act’s two-year limitation on claims. The employer’s obligation since 2019 is to make sure at least five days are taken each year; there is no statutory duty to convert the remainder into money.
Japan is one of the few countries where the law does not require an employer to pay for untaken annual leave when employment ends. The Labor Standards Act contains no obligation to pay for untaken annual leave at the end of employment, and untaken days lapse after two years. Payment is a matter of contract or company practice, and buying leave back during employment is generally treated as defeating the purpose of the entitlement. That makes the record of days actually granted and taken the thing that matters — for comparison, payout is mandatory across the European Union and Australia, and in the United States it depends on the state.
If you run a team in Japan
- Write the entitlement into every contract. At least 10 days; more is fine, less is void. Collective agreements may add to it.
- Track accrual and carryover to the day, with a record of every approval. Untaken days lapse rather than turn into money, so the record is what proves the statutory entitlement was actually honoured.
- Make sure the days are taken. Where payout is not required, the legal risk sits in leave that was never granted — plan it into the year rather than letting it expire.
If you work in Japan
- Check your contract gives at least 10 days. Anything less is unenforceable.
- Keep your own record of approved leave. Payroll systems get changed; your notes don't.
- Untaken days are not automatically paid when you leave, so use your entitlement during the year and check what your contract promises.
Countries with the same 10-day minimum
Calculating an employee's balance
Entitlement is the starting point; the working number is what an individual has actually accrued at a given date. Our accrual calculator converts an annual entitlement into a per-pay-period figure and a current balance.
Tracking Japan leave correctly
Even where untaken leave is not paid out, the balance has to be provable: the employer has to show the statutory days were granted, and the employee has to be able to see what is left. Spreadsheets fail at exactly the moment they matter — when the two records disagree.
For a single-country team, Leavo handles Japan accrual rules, carryover and approvals with a full audit trail. If you employ people in more than one country, statutory entitlements, carryover rules and payout obligations differ in every one — that is the case for a platform like Deel that handles multi-country employment rather than leave alone. We compare the options in our leave management software guide.
Japan annual leave: common questions
How many paid annual leave days are employees entitled to in Japan?
10 working days is the statutory minimum in Japan, equivalent to 2 weeks on a five-day working week, under Labor Standards Act, Article 39. Employers and collective agreements may grant more, never less.
Must unused annual leave be paid out when employment ends in Japan?
No. The Labor Standards Act contains no obligation to pay for untaken annual leave at the end of employment, and untaken days lapse after two years. Payment is a matter of contract or company practice, and buying leave back during employment is generally treated as defeating the purpose of the entitlement. Many employers still pay for untaken days by contract or custom, but the law does not require it.
Can an employer in Japan refuse a leave request?
An employer can usually influence when leave is taken for operational reasons, but cannot deny the entitlement itself. The right to the minimum number of days is statutory and cannot be contracted away.
Do public holidays count towards the 10-day entitlement in Japan?
No. Public holidays are separate from the 10-day statutory annual leave entitlement in Japan.
Source
Primary source: Labor Standards Act, Article 39. Statutory minimums change, and collective agreements frequently exceed them — confirm against the current text before acting. See our methodology.