Keichō Kyūka (慶弔休暇): Days, Scope of Relatives, and How to Apply
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Category: Work Styles, Job Change, Overcoming Job-Change Anxiety
Authors: Shusaku Yosa
Published:
Last Updated:
Category: Work Styles, Job Change, Overcoming Job-Change Anxiety
Authors: Shusaku Yosa
Joyful events like weddings and births, and sad events like the loss of a family member or relative, can come unexpectedly. Japanese companies provide "keichō kyūka" (慶弔休暇) — congratulatory and bereavement leave — to let employees step away from work in those moments.
"How many days of keichō kyūka can I take? Which family members are covered? Will I still get paid?" These questions catch many people off guard at the worst possible time. To make things harder, keichō kyūka is not mandated by Japanese law, and the rules vary substantially from one company to another — so understanding your own employer's policy is essential.
This article walks through the meaning and reading of keichō kyūka, typical day counts by relationship, which events and relatives qualify, how to apply and which documents you may need, whether the time off is paid, and the common pitfalls to avoid. We've also added a checklist for job seekers who want to read a company's policy as a signal of its broader culture before joining.
"慶弔休暇" is read as "keichō kyūka." The character 慶 ("kei") refers to joyful, celebratory events, and 弔 ("chō") refers to mourning a death. Combined as 慶弔 ("keichō"), the term covers both ends of the spectrum.
In other words, keichō kyūka is a form of special leave that an employee can take when a congratulatory event (like a wedding or birth) or a bereavement event (like a funeral for a family member or relative) occurs. Some companies don't use the umbrella term "keichō kyūka" at all — they break it into "marriage leave" and "birth leave" for joyful events, and "kibiki kyūka" (忌引休暇, bereavement leave) for the unhappy ones.
Unlike annual paid leave (年次有給休暇) or maternity leave (産前産後休暇) — which are mandated by Japan's Labor Standards Act — keichō kyūka is a "special leave" (特別休暇) that each company introduces voluntarily as part of its benefits. Whether to offer it at all, how many days to grant, whether to pay during the leave, and which relatives count as eligible — all of these decisions are left to the employer.
That means Company A may give you 10 days off for a spouse's passing while Company B caps the same event at 7. For the exact same life event, the number of days you can take can vary substantially by employer. Don't rely on general expectations — always check your own company's work rules.
Keichō kyūka is one type of special leave. "Special leave" itself is a broad umbrella term — companies can also voluntarily set up "refresh leave," "anniversary leave," "volunteer leave," and so on, and keichō kyūka is the most established example of the category.
When the term covers only bereavement events, some companies call it "kibiki kyūka" (忌引休暇) instead. Depending on the employer, kibiki kyūka may be folded inside keichō kyūka or treated as a separate, standalone leave. Check which structure your company uses.
For joyful events, the common ranges are roughly as follows:
For your own marriage, many companies build in about a week of leave to cover wedding preparation and a honeymoon. It's common to stack annual paid leave on top to extend the total to about two weeks.
Note: if you yourself are the one giving birth, the applicable leave is not keichō kyūka but maternity leave (産前産後休業), which is mandated by labor law. Keichō kyūka covers the spouse's side of childbirth only.
For bereavement, the number of days varies with your relationship to the deceased (the kinship degree). The closer the relationship, the more days are typically granted.
These are general norms; some employers set shorter limits like 7 days for a spouse and 5 for a parent. On the other hand, some employers add extra days for travel to a distant funeral or when you are serving as the chief mourner.
When the keichō kyūka period overlaps with weekends or public holidays, whether to include those days in the count varies by employer.
For example, "7 days for the loss of a parent" means roughly one week including the weekend under calendar-day counting, but with business-day counting you effectively get about nine days off when a weekend falls inside the period. To avoid disputes, check whether your work rules spell this out, or confirm with HR.
Bereavement leave is typically taken consecutively right after the event. Joyful events, however, often involve ceremonies and honeymoons spread out over time, so many companies allow you to split the leave or take it later.
Companies commonly set a window such as "within one year of registering the marriage" or "within three months of the wedding ceremony." If you've recently married, check the start date and expiration window your employer applies.
The most common rule is to cover relatives within the third degree of kinship. The following relationships fall within that scope:
Even within the third degree, some companies cap eligibility at second-degree relatives, exclude the third degree entirely, or grant only one day for third-degree relatives.
Relatives fall into two types: blood relatives (血族) and relatives by marriage (姻族, "in-zoku"), connected through your spouse. Your own parents are blood relatives, while your spouse's parents are relatives by marriage.
Some companies distinguish the day counts for blood vs. marriage relatives, while others apply the same days regardless. When companies do distinguish, the marriage side typically gets fewer days — for example, 7 days for your own parents and 3–5 days for your spouse's parents.
In recent years, more companies have extended keichō kyūka coverage beyond legally registered spouses to include common-law partners and same-sex partners.
This is still an employer-by-employer decision, however, and not every company applies it. If you want to choose an employer that values diverse partnership models, check the work rules and benefits documents, and consider asking in an interview, "Are common-law and same-sex partners covered by keichō kyūka?"
Adopted children and adoptive parents are typically treated the same as biological family at most companies, but it's worth confirming in the work rules to be safe.
Not every life event qualifies. The following are commonly excluded:
When you need time off for these reasons, you generally use annual paid leave. Memorial services are usually known in advance, so they are easy to cover with paid leave.
Here is how the process usually goes:
Because bereavement events are sudden, employees typically call or message their manager right after receiving the news and complete the paperwork afterward.
When you contact your company, share the following:
For bereavements in particular, also mentioning the funeral schedule and location (especially if it is far away) helps your manager and team understand the situation.
Some employers require supporting documents to confirm the event:
Most companies let you submit these after you return. Some set a deadline (such as within ◯ days of returning), so submit them promptly rather than leaving them for later.
Although bereavements are sudden, contacting your workplace as quickly and courteously as possible is basic professional etiquette. If the news arrives late at night or on a holiday, time your phone call to your manager's reachable hours and, when truly urgent, send a quick message first and follow up with a phone call.
Don't rely on email or chat alone — when possible, conveying the situation by voice helps your manager respond appropriately. If the funeral details are not yet finalized, say so and promise to follow up once they are.
There is no legal rule on how wages are handled during keichō kyūka. Whether it is paid (your usual wage continues) or unpaid (no wage during the leave) is set by each company's work rules.
Most companies treat keichō kyūka as paid leave, but some treat it as unpaid, and some distinguish by event type — for instance, "your own wedding and bereavements are paid; a child's wedding or attending a spouse's birth is unpaid." The distinction usually reflects the relative weight of the event.
Here are the items to verify in your company's work rules:
If you can't tell whether your company offers it, check the work rules or ask HR or general affairs. Even when no paper copy is distributed, many companies post the policy on the intranet or benefits page.
Because keichō kyūka is non-statutory leave, eligibility and day counts can differ by employment type. Companies that historically offered it only to full-time employees are increasingly extending the same coverage to part-time and contract workers under the principle of "equal work, equal pay," though some employers still keep a gap.
If you work part-time or under a contract, check the employment contract you received when joining and the work rules to confirm what keichō kyūka coverage applies to you.
When you need more time than the standard allowance — say, when travel to a distant funeral eats up extra days, or you want to extend a honeymoon — combine keichō kyūka with annual paid leave.
For example, if your employer grants 5 days of keichō kyūka for a marriage and you want 10 days total, you apply for 5 days as keichō kyūka and the remaining 5 as annual paid leave. Coordinate with your manager in advance so the workload is covered.
Because keichō kyūka tends to be longer than a typical paid day off, a careful handover matters more.
Documenting these and sharing them in writing reduces the burden on your teammates during your absence and helps you resume your work smoothly when you return.
When you come back, share thanks and a brief greeting with your manager and teammates as a matter of courtesy.
For bereavements, a short line like "Thank you for your consideration during this time. I'm back at work as of today" works well; if you received condolence gifts, thank those specific people separately. For joyful events, a brief update like "Thank you for the time off. The ceremony went well" maintains good relations at the office.
Keichō kyūka is your right as an employee, but false claims or taking the leave for events that clearly don't qualify violate work rules and, just as importantly, damage workplace trust. That's exactly why supporting documents are sometimes required.
Also, even when a qualifying event occurs, you don't have to take the full allotted time. Wrapping up earlier when the situation allows is itself viewed favorably as consideration for your team.
How a company designs non-statutory leave like keichō kyūka reflects how much it respects employees' life events.
"10 paid days for a spouse's passing," "common-law partners are covered," "business-day counting that excludes weekends" — companies with generous policies tend to have a culture that respects employees' private circumstances. Conversely, when keichō kyūka is at the minimum days, unpaid, or absent, the whole benefits package may have been designed with cost in mind.
In job interviews, casual meetings (kajuaru mendan), or post-offer condition checks, asking the following can reveal how the company actually handles keichō kyūka:
These are natural questions in a discussion of working conditions. If anything, asking serious questions about the policy can come across as a positive signal — "this person wants to build a long career here."
What really matters is the gap between "keichō kyūka exists in the work rules" and "people can comfortably apply for it." Those aren't the same thing.
"The policy exists, but nobody uses it," "you'll get sideways looks if you apply," "you can't really take it during busy seasons" — these realities are hard to see from a job listing or a single interview. For policies like keichō kyūka, where usability matters most precisely when you actually need them, the gap between the company's outward story and the day-to-day reality tends to be the widest.
One increasingly popular way to check that gap before joining is "otameshi tenshoku" (お試し転職, trial job change). Before committing to a formal hiring process or accepting an offer, you spend a short period (a few days to a few weeks) actually working inside a company you're interested in. That gives you a direct read on team atmosphere, attitudes toward time off, and your prospective manager's style — things the work rules don't spell out.
Reading a company's keichō kyūka policy is a useful entry point into its culture. Pairing that with a way to verify the on-the-ground reality is the most reliable path to a career move you won't regret.
No. Keichō kyūka is non-statutory, so companies have no obligation to provide it. If your employer has none, you take annual paid leave for weddings or funerals.
That said, because keichō kyūka is widely offered as a benefit, companies without it often face a disadvantage in hiring, and adoption has been growing.
For bereavements, the start day is usually the day of death (or the following day). For joyful events, it depends on the employer — the registration date of marriage, the date of the wedding, the spouse's delivery date, and so on.
The work rules typically spell out the start date, so confirm it in advance.
At most employers, you can take keichō kyūka starting from your first day. Unlike annual paid leave, keichō kyūka usually doesn't come with conditions like "available after six months of tenure" — that's one of its distinguishing features.
Some employers do restrict it during the probation period or grant it only after a certain number of months, so it's safer to check your work rules.
If you receive the news while working or traveling abroad, contact your direct manager and HR promptly to discuss transportation home and how your work will be covered.
For long-distance funerals, some employers add "travel days" to the leave allowance. Some have special provisions for overseas-based employees, so ask HR.
In principle, keichō kyūka is a legitimate company-recognized leave, and taking it should never negatively affect your evaluation. In reality, however, the possibility that a manager or coworker might privately resent the absence isn't zero.
Handing off your work carefully and thanking people on your return goes a long way toward defusing that concern. If you still feel the leave is clearly counted against you, it likely points to a management-culture problem — and may be a reason to rethink your longer-term career strategy.
Keichō kyūka grants time off; "keichō mimaikin" (慶弔見舞金) is monetary support — congratulatory cash for weddings or births, and condolence money for funerals.
Many companies offer both, and they are often documented together in a "keichō-related provisions" section of the work rules. When you check the keichō kyūka policy, look at the cash-support side too to get a fuller picture of benefits.
To close, here are the key points from this article:
To stay calm when something unexpected happens, check your own company's work rules in advance. And if you're considering a job change, evaluating both the policy on paper and whether there is an actual usable culture around it is the path to choosing an employer where you can build a stable, long-term career.
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