Paid Leave Days Calculator - Entitlement & Balance from Your Hire Date (Japan)
Enter your hire date plus weekly working days and hours to instantly calculate how many days of statutory paid leave you should currently hold and your next grant date, based on Japan's Labor Standards Act Article 39. Covers both full-time and part-time employees.
Statutory Paid Leave Grant Days Table (Labor Standards Act Article 39)
Grant days by years of continuous service, starting from 6 months after hire and then every additional year.
| Category | 0.5 yr | 1.5 yr | 2.5 yr | 3.5 yr | 4.5 yr | 5.5 yr | 6.5+ yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full grant (30+ hrs/week or 5+ days/week) | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 |
| 4 days/week (pro-rated) | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 15 |
| 3 days/week (pro-rated) | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 2 days/week (pro-rated) | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| 1 days/week (pro-rated) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Source: Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, "Annual Paid Leave Grant Days" (Labor Standards Act Article 39 and its enforcement rules), as of July 2026. Grants require attendance on at least 80% of scheduled working days.
How annual leave entitlement is calculated in Japan
Annual paid leave arises when a worker has been continuously employed for six months and attended on at least eighty per cent of working days, at which point ten days are granted under Article 39 of the Labour Standards Act. Further grants follow each year, and the number of days rises with length of service: ten at six months, eleven at a year and six months, twelve at two years and six months, reaching a ceiling of twenty days a year from six years and six months onwards.
It is not confined to full-time employees. Part-time workers with fewer scheduled days a week fall under a proportional grant, which apportions the days where someone works four days or fewer a week and under thirty hours. Conversely, anyone working thirty hours or more, or five days or more, receives the same days as a full-time employee regardless of their contract type. Enter the hire date and the weekly days and hours, and this tool works out the days you should currently hold and when the next grant falls.
Sources used in this calculation
Statutory figures such as tax and insurance rates come from the public bodies listed below. They change when the law is revised, so please also check the primary source before relying on the result for an important decision.
- Annual paid leave accrual schedule — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働省) Effective from 1994-04 ／ Last checked 2026-09-07
How to calculate your entitlement
- Enter the hire date The day employment began. A probationary period counts towards continuous service.
- Enter the scheduled weekly days Four days or fewer a week, together with under thirty hours, means a proportional grant.
- Enter the scheduled weekly hours Thirty hours or more brings the full grant, the same days as a full-time employee.
- Read the balance and the next grant date The balance reflects previous grants and the two-year limitation period.
Tips for getting more out of it
- "Days you should currently hold" is a grant-based estimate that doesn't account for days you've actually used. Check your payslip or attendance system for your real remaining balance.
- Under Labor Standards Act Article 115, the right to claim paid leave expires 2 years after it's granted. Unused days carry over for one year, but anything older than that is gone.
- If your scheduled working hours are 30+ hours/week, you get the full grant regardless of how many days you work — even reduced-hours full-time employees qualify.
- The pro-rated grant only applies if you work under 30 hours/week AND 4 or fewer days/week (or 216 or fewer days/year). If either condition fails, you get the full grant instead.
- This tool assumes you meet the 80% attendance requirement for each grant. If you've had significant absences, your actual grant may differ.
Where this helps
Knowing your own balance
Check by your own calculation whether it agrees with what your employer records.
Confirming a part-time worker's rights
The proportional grant is easily overlooked. Establish whether it applies to you.
Managing the five-day obligation
Where ten or more days are granted, the employer must ensure at least five are taken.
Timing a change of job
Leaving just before the next grant date forfeits that year's entitlement.
Annual leave terms explained
- Proportional grant
- The apportioned grant for those with fewer scheduled days. It applies at four days or fewer a week together with under thirty hours.
- The eighty per cent attendance test
- A condition of the grant. Maternity leave, childcare leave and absence from a work-related injury count as attendance.
- Limitation period
- The right to leave lapses after two years, so at most two years' worth — last year's and this year's — can be held.
- Reference date
- The date from which a grant is counted. Some employers set a single common date to keep administration aligned.
- The five-day obligation
- The employer's duty to ensure that a worker granted ten or more days takes at least five of them.
- The worker's right to specify timing
- The right to choose the days taken. The employer may not, as a rule, refuse it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Side Note — Why the odd "6 months, then every year" grant cycle?
The reason paid leave isn't granted immediately at hire but only after 6 months of continuous service traces back to the original thinking behind Japan's Labor Standards Act: the right should be established only after some track record of employment (and expected continuation) has been confirmed. This kind of qualifying period is also permitted under International Labour Organization conventions, and Japan's 6-month threshold falls within the internationally typical range.
The oddly specific progression of grant days — 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 — is also a design artifact. The idea is that as tenure grows, employees should be allotted progressively more time for rest and personal life, with a gentler increase early on and a steeper one from around the third year onward.
The pro-rated grant system for part-time workers was introduced in a 1987 amendment. Before that, paid leave for part-timers was left largely to employer discretion, with no clear standard. Establishing an explicit table based on weekly working days was meant to guarantee fair access to leave for shorter-hour workers as well.
The "days you should currently hold" figure from this tool is an upper bound based purely on grants. Your actual remaining balance depends on how much you've used, so for situations that require an exact number — like negotiating a payout at resignation — always cross-check with your employer's records.