Are shops closed during the New Year period?

May I know if shops like Lawson, 7-11, Family Mart are closed during the New Year period (eg. from Dec 30 to Jan 3) in Hokkaido?

I read that tourist attractions will be closed during this period.

But I'd like to know how about shops, malls, and restaurants. Are they closed too?

Convenience stores like Lawson, 7-11 and Family Mart are open everyday.
Many other types of shops are closed on January 1, but open on all other days..
A few businesses and restaurants are closed for multiple days.
Some sightseeing attractions are also closed one or multiple days.

We won't know for sure until perhaps autumn.

There is an awareness that convenience stores should close at night and have days off at least during the Year End/New Year period, instead of running 24/7 for 365 days of the year.

Hi Uco,

Could you expand on your comment. Is there a change in laws being prepared in Japan? (I don't mean this as a negative - just interested)

To person asking the question - lots of tourism related things are closed for a few days such as museums and such. Hotels, fast food restaurants and convenience stores tend to stay open. The more rural the location - in general the more is closed. I've had trouble finding food in the past in rural locations during New Years and restaurants that are open can be more busy than normal.

If you are in a major city - it should not be a problem

mfedley,

First of all, there is no law stating the operation hours of convenience stores. It's up to the franchise to decide.

Meanwhile, the government's "hataraki-kata kaikaku (work style reform)" campaign as well as the global awareness to save energy have led people, konbini owners in particular, to encourage their franchise to reduce the stores' working hours.

For example, during the 2019 YE/NE, several franchises did reduce their opening hours, including Lawson and Seven Eleven which closed for a whole day on New Year's Day and a few hours on days surrounding it. They would analyse their profit etc. to see if they'd want to do the same for the next YE/NE.

You can find a lot of Japanese articles about it by Googling コンビニ　年末年始 (konbini YE/NE) in Japanese. We kept hearing about it on Japanese media before Covid broke. Here is an example of a news footage and article in Japanese.
https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_economy/articles/000172833.html

I happened to find one in English too.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/12/c6ca2a382e74-convenience-st...

Note, that tourists can always buy food and necessities from the hotel they are staying at, but if you need anything more or if you're staying at an apartment on your own, you should make sure you do your shopping before stores close (like how we all used to some three decades ago).