JPN Paradox 11 | Diversity: Your Personal Time Off with Everyone

If diversity means embracing different ways of being, can personal time off be one of them?

Photo by Matt Cramblett

During my career in the US, I generally didn’t feel the need to explain why I was taking time off. I would take two to three weeks at a time, and sometimes another week or two later in the year. Whether it was a day or a longer break, it was simply my choice. No one asked for a reason.

When I started working in Japan, I noticed something different.

Taking a holiday often seemed to require a reason. Not a formal rule, but an unspoken expectation. And the more the reason felt “out of your control,” the more acceptable it seemed.

“I’m taking time off because of my family.” Not because I want a vacation, but because someone else needs me.

I remember a junior colleague who traveled to the US for a music festival. Only a few of us knew. He didn’t want his manager or senior colleagues to find out, fearing there might be repercussions. His sense was that a junior person shouldn’t travel so far simply to enjoy himself. So officially, he said he was visiting his parents three hours away. We couldn’t talk about his trip at work, either before he left or after he returned.

And yet, I’ve also heard the opposite.

Some friends tell me they are encouraged to take their leave, with no questions asked. In fact, there is sometimes an unspoken understanding not to ask how someone spends their time off, for fear it could be perceived as harassment.

Perhaps, public holidays are one way of addressing these dynamics.

There are 16 public holidays in 2026. Add substitute holidays (when a public holiday falls on a Sunday and the following Monday becomes a day off), along with company-designated breaks like New Year’s and Obon, and the total number of days off increases to around 24 days this year, depending on the organization.

In a way, this creates a different kind of system.

We all take time off together, collectively and predictably. No one is burdened, and there’s less need to explain or hide what you’re doing.

And I wonder.

If diversity is about embracing different ways of thinking and living, can taking time off be diversified as well?

What would it mean to create a culture where people can take time off freely, be supported while they are away, and openly share what they experienced when they return?

And what kind of system do we end up with when everyone rests at the same time? Hotels fill up. Travel costs rise. And sometimes, we come back from our holidays more exhausted than when we left.

What would it look like to make room not just for collective rest but for individual choice?

What has been your experience?