Melmaga ZukanGuide
Japan retail sale calendar
Japanese online stores follow a promotion calendar that differs from the US and Europe. Gift-giving seasons, the New Year sales and marketplace campaigns matter as much as Black Friday. This guide lists what typically happens each month, next to what we actually see in the marketing emails of the Japanese brands we track.
Updated November 2026. Dates vary from year to year and from brand to brand; treat this as a planning guide, not a schedule.
Month by month
| Month | What typically happens | What we see in emails |
|---|---|---|
| January | New Year sales (Hatsuuri) from January 1, often with lucky bags (Fukubukuro); winter clearance. | Not enough emails yet |
| February | Valentine's Day (in Japan, mainly gifts of chocolate); winter clearance continues. | Not enough emails yet |
| March | White Day (March 14); the start of the spring "new life" season as people move for school and work. | Not enough emails yet |
| April | New-life season; the Japanese fiscal year starts; build-up to Golden Week. | Not enough emails yet |
| May | Golden Week holidays (late April to early May); Mother's Day. | Not enough emails yet |
| June | Father's Day; summer gift season (Ochugen) begins; summer bonuses at many companies. | Not enough emails yet |
| July | Summer sales; Ochugen gifts; marketplace summer events. | Not enough emails yet |
| August | Obon holidays in mid-August; summer clearance. | Not enough emails yet |
| September | Respect for the Aged Day and Silver Week holidays; autumn ranges arrive. | 41% of emails were promotions; median max discount 20%. Frequent themes: Halloween, 周年祭. |
| October | Halloween; autumn and winter ranges. | 36% of emails were promotions; median max discount 20%. Frequent themes: Halloween, 周年祭, Christmas. |
| November | Black Friday (increasingly common in Japan); year-end gift season (Oseibo) begins; lucky-bag pre-orders. | 43% of emails were promotions; median max discount 11%. Frequent themes: Christmas, 周年祭, Year-end gifts (Oseibo). |
| December | Christmas; Oseibo gifts; year-end sales; lucky-bag pre-orders ahead of the New Year. | Not enough emails yet |
Things that surprise teams new to Japan
Loyalty points are a promotion in their own right
Many Japanese retailers and marketplaces run "point-up" campaigns that multiply the loyalty points a shopper earns, instead of (or on top of) cutting prices. When you benchmark discount depth in Japan, look at points and free-shipping offers too.
Gift seasons drive two peaks
Ochugen (summer gifts, around June to August) and Oseibo (year-end gifts, around November to December) are traditional gift-giving seasons. Many brands run dedicated gift campaigns, often starting weeks before the peak.
New Year is a major sales moment
The first sales of the year (Hatsuuri) start on or right after January 1, often with lucky bags (Fukubukuro): sealed bags of products sold at a fixed price. Online stores frequently announce or take pre-orders for lucky bags in November and December.
Black Friday has arrived, on a Japanese timetable
Black Friday campaigns have become common in Japan in recent years. Some brands start earlier or run them longer than in the US, and they overlap with year-end gift campaigns.
Marketplaces set a recurring rhythm
Large marketplaces such as Rakuten Ichiba and Amazon Japan run their own recurring sale events several times a year, and shops selling there often time their emails around them. Check each marketplace's announcements for exact dates.
How we built this
We subscribe to the public newsletters of Japanese online stores and brands and read every email automatically: its type (sale, coupon, points, free shipping, new arrivals and more), the discount it states, deadlines and seasonal themes. The "What we see" column summarizes emails received by our inboxes in Japan; it reflects the brands we track, not the whole market.
Want the numbers for a specific brand or category?
Our reports show send days and hours, how often a brand runs sales, and how deep the discounts go.