Which day are Japanese sights closed? What 927 official closing-day notes say

Monday is the most common closing day, but Tuesday and Wednesday are close behind, many places shut over New Year, and some close for the whole winter. Counts and examples from official pages.

"Closed on Mondays" is the rule most visitors know. The notes on this site show that it is only part of the picture. We counted the closing-day notes copied from official pages.

What we looked at

Base: 927 published spots with a closing-day note from an official or local-government tourism page (checked 2026-09-24 to 2026-09-28).
Method: text search on 2026-09-29, then a read of some matches. The numbers are "at least". A note can name more than one day, and a day named in a note is not always a weekly closing day (it can be an exception).

Closing-day note mentions	Spots (at least)
Open every day, or no regular closing day	366
The New Year period (late December or early January)	328
Monday	130
Wednesday	107
Tuesday	96
Thursday	37
Sunday	20
Friday	8
Saturday	7
A holiday rule ("the next day if a holiday" and similar)	168
Irregular, temporary or maintenance closures	128
Winter or a season-long closure	119

Monday is the most common named day, but Tuesday and Wednesday together appear more often. Weekends are rarely closing days.

Examples

Sairi Yashiki, Miyagi: Mondays (the next day if Monday is a public holiday).
Azuchi Castle Archaeological Museum, Shiga: Mondays (next day if a holiday) and December 28 to January 4.
The Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum, Fukushima: Tuesdays (if a holiday, open and closed the next weekday), and December 29 to January 3.
Otsuka Museum of Art, Tokushima: Mondays (the next day if a holiday) and a run of days in January, but open every day in August.

Closed for the season

Outdoor and mountain places may close for months:

Geto Onsen, Iwate: closed on Tuesdays, and for winter from mid-November to early May.
Fukiware Falls, Gunma: usually closed for winter from mid-December to late March.
Kinugawa River Boat Ride, Tochigi: closed from late November to early April.
Nasu Animal Kingdom, Tochigi: closed on Wednesdays (except spring break, Golden Week and summer; open if a holiday), closed for part of winter, and in winter only the indoor Kingdom Town area opens.

How to plan

Check the closing day of every stop, not only museums. Tuesday and Wednesday closures are common.
Read the holiday rule. After a holiday Monday, the place may close on Tuesday instead. See Opening-hours traps in Japan.
Around New Year, expect closures. At least 328 notes mention the period; the dates differ, for example December 29 to January 3, or December 28 to January 4.
For winter trips to mountains and gorges, check whether the place opens at all that season.
Look for "irregular" or "see the official website" and check the calendar on the official page close to your date.

Sources

Closing-day notes for each place: the official or local-government tourism page linked in each fact table (checked 2026-09-24 to 2026-09-28)
Counts in this article: Verified in Japan fact tables, text search on 2026-09-29