Amount of Time Japanese Spend on Leisure Drops for First Time Since 2018

Economy Work## Leisure Time and Expenditure Down

A survey conducted by the Japan Productivity Center on how the Japanese people spent their leisure time in 2025 found that both the time and money spent on leisure decreased year on year. When calculated as a “leisure index” by looking at the difference in percentages for each response year on year, leisure time decreased by 0.8 from 2024 to 2025 (whereas it had climbed 0.4 in 2023–24) and expenditure decreased by 2.1 (up 1.4 the previous year). This was the first drop for leisure time since 2018, and the first for expenditure since 2022.

A total of 37.0% of respondents said that they “find more meaning in leisure than in work,” while 29.3% said they “wrap up work quickly and enjoy their leisure time as much as possible.” The combined total for these of 66.3% was down on the peak of 67.8% in 2025. Meanwhile, 21.4% answered that they “focused equally on work and leisure” and 9.8% said that they “sometimes enjoy leisure activities, but focus more on work.”

The survey was conducted online in February 2026, targeting 3,279 people aged from 15 to 79 across Japan.

Domestic Sightseeing the Top Activity

The top activity for the fourth consecutive year was “domestic sightseeing trips, including summer and winter escapes and hot-spring visits,” at 47.7%. “Dining out (excluding daily meals)” rose one place to second, at 39.5%. In third and below were “watching videos (including rental and streaming),” at 36.4%, “listening to music (including streaming, CDs, and records),” at 34.6%, and “watching films (excluding on television),” at 33.7%. “Walking” came in seventh and “going for a drive” eighth. The percentage of people taking overseas trips was 6.7%, which was 0.7 points higher than the previous year.

For those who said they took domestic trips, the average annual number was 4.3, with average annual expenditure of ¥130,200. For dining out, the average frequency was 17.5 times, with average annual expenditure of ¥58,900.

Data Sources

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)