About 40% Consider Weekday Absences During Golden Week — Parents' True Feelings About Keeping Children Home from School or Daycare for Outings [Iko-yo Research Institute 2026 Survey]

ActIndi Co., Ltd. (Shinagawa, Tokyo; Representative Director: Takamichi Shimomoto), operator of "iko-yo" — Japan's largest website for family outing information — publishes survey reports and analytical data on topics related to children and families, including trends, experiential activities, and the outing market, through its information media "iko-yo Research Institute (https://research.iko-yo.net/)". The institute has released the results of a survey and analysis — based on the iko-yo monitor questionnaire — on parents' views regarding children taking time off from school or daycare for outings and travel.

※ When citing or reproducing this survey content in any media, please contact our PR department (pr@actindi.net) prior to publication and include the credit "iko-yo Research Institute" along with the article URL (https://research.iko-yo.net/solutions/research/13094.html).

＜Topics＞

· About 40% plan to take a weekday off during Golden Week for outings

· 76% support keeping children home from school/daycare for outings — trend shows normalization over 3 years

· Supporters are the majority regardless of whether they actually take days off

· Behind support: "irreplaceable family time" and "the value of experiences"

· Why oppose it? Voices of parents who prefer to minimize absences

· Summary

(This release is an excerpt from the "2026 Survey Report on Views Regarding Children Taking Days Off from Daycare or School for Outings and Travel." Read the full report here.)

About 70% Plan Outings During Golden Week, Mostly Day Trips

More and more families are letting children skip school or daycare on weekdays to go on outings. Many parents appear to be aware of the benefits of weekday outings — such as avoiding crowds and reducing costs.

Among families planning outings during Golden Week, we asked whether they intend to keep their children home from school or daycare on weekdays during the GW period. "Yes" accounted for 13% and "Considering it" for 24%, meaning that approximately 40% of families have weekday GW outings in mind.