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When Does Ramadan 2027 Start in Indonesia? Lebaran Holiday Dates and the Impact on Workplaces and Businesses in Japan

Published: October 20, 2026 / Last updated: October 24, 2026

Category: For businesses

Ramadan 2027 in Indonesia starts in early February; the Eid al-Fitr holidays are March 10 and 11

On September 15, 2026, the Indonesian government set the public holidays and collective leave days for 2027. The public holidays for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of fasting, are Wednesday, March 10, and Thursday, March 11. Including the surrounding collective leave days, weekends, and the Nyepi public holiday on Monday, March 8, those taking all the collective leave days can have 10 consecutive days off, from Saturday, March 6, to Monday, March 15.

This decision does not include the start date of Ramadan, the fasting month. In Indonesia, the Minister of Religious Affairs makes a separate decision on the dates of the start of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. The calendar published in advance through calculations by Muhammadiyah, an Indonesian Islamic organization, gives Monday, February 8, as the start of Ramadan 2027 and Tuesday, March 9, as Eid al-Fitr.

Date (2027)EventBasis
Friday, February 5Collective leave (Lunar New Year)Government decision
Saturday, February 6Public holiday (Lunar New Year)Government decision
Monday, February 8First day of RamadanMuhammadiyah calendar
Monday, March 8Public holiday (Nyepi)Government decision
Tuesday, March 9Collective leave; Eid al-Fitr in the Muhammadiyah calendarGovernment decision; Muhammadiyah calendar
Wednesday, March 10; Thursday, March 11Public holidays (Eid al-Fitr)Government decision
Friday, March 12; Monday, March 15Collective leaveGovernment decision

The government decision is a joint decision signed by the Minister of Religious Affairs, the Minister of Manpower, and the minister responsible for administrative and bureaucratic reform. The Ministry of State Secretariat of Indonesia publishes its contents alongside the list of public holidays and collective leave days.

Drawing on materials from the Indonesian government and Japanese ministries and other public bodies, this article explains how the dates are set, what the extended Eid al-Fitr holiday period means in Indonesia, and how it affects workplaces and businesses in Japan. For fasting hours and the rules themselves, see When Does Ramadan 2027 Start? Fasting Hours, the Rules, and What to Know When Spending Ramadan in Japan. We checked the sources on October 19, 2026.

The government meeting and an organization’s calendar can give dates a day apart

The Indonesian government determines the start of Ramadan at a “sidang isbat,” a meeting held by the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Indonesia. In 2026, the meeting was held in Jakarta on Tuesday, February 17, and the minister announced the result.

According to the ministry, calculations that day showed the moon below the horizon everywhere in Indonesia at sunset. There were also no reports of sightings from observations at 96 locations across the country. The government uses criteria agreed by MABIMS, a meeting of religious affairs ministers from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The benchmarks are a moon altitude of 3 degrees and an angular separation of 6.4 degrees between the sun and moon. As calculations did not meet the criteria and the moon was not sighted, Thursday, February 19, was set as the first day of Ramadan.

Muhammadiyah, meanwhile, had announced in advance that Ramadan 2026 would begin on Wednesday, February 18. It used its astronomically calculated “Kalender Hijriah Global Tunggal” (Unified Global Hijri Calendar). That year, the government decision and the organization’s calendar differed by one day within the same country.

The difference comes from different methods of setting dates. The government decides at a meeting using both calculations by the ministry and Islamic organizations and moon observations across the country. Muhammadiyah uses calculations alone to make a global calendar and publishes dates months before Ramadan. Its announcement setting the Ramadan 2026 dates was released on October 22, 2025, almost four months before Ramadan began.

For 2027, a difference is already visible at the end of fasting. The Muhammadiyah calendar gives March 9 as Eid al-Fitr, while the government public holidays are March 10 and 11. The joint government decision says the Minister of Religious Affairs will make a separate decision on the first day of Ramadan and the date of Eid al-Fitr. The start of Ramadan is also not confirmed until the sidang isbat in February 2027.

When arranging plans with someone from Indonesia, ask which dates they will follow to avoid misunderstandings. Dates announced by mosques in Japan do not necessarily match the Indonesian government’s dates. The Ramadan article mentioned earlier explains how to check dates when spending the month in Japan.

The extended holiday period after fasting runs from March 6 to 15

The joint government decision sets 18 public holidays and eight collective leave days for 2027. The days around Eid al-Fitr are as follows.

DateDayType
March 6SaturdayWeekend
March 7SundayWeekend
March 8MondayPublic holiday (Nyepi, Saka New Year)
March 9TuesdayCollective leave
March 10WednesdayPublic holiday (Eid al-Fitr)
March 11ThursdayPublic holiday (Eid al-Fitr)
March 12FridayCollective leave
March 13SaturdayWeekend
March 14SundayWeekend
March 15MondayCollective leave

The joint decision says the purpose of setting public holidays and collective leave is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of working days and provide holiday guidance for both government offices and the private sector.

Collective leave, or cuti bersama, is treated differently from public holidays. The joint decision says that taking collective leave reduces annual leave by the number of days taken, in line with laws and each workplace’s rules. Collective leave for civil servants follows the law, while the heads of private companies and organizations decide their arrangements. Services provided directly to the public, such as hospitals, telecommunications, electricity, water, banks, and transport, are asked to assign staff to work during public holidays and collective leave.

The break is 10 days long only if all collective leave days are taken. Each private company decides how to treat them. Check holiday arrangements with business partners and local offices in Indonesia.

There are also days off just before Ramadan. Collective leave on Friday, February 5, the Lunar New Year public holiday on Saturday, February 6, and Sunday, February 7, form a three-day break before Ramadan starts on February 8 in Muhammadiyah’s calendar. After Eid al-Fitr, Monday, May 17, is the Eid al-Adha public holiday, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 18 and 19, are collective leave days, and Thursday, May 20, is the Buddhist holiday Waisak. Taking collective leave gives a continuous break from Saturday, May 15, to Thursday, May 20.

Lebaran is a homecoming season when half the population travels

In Indonesia, Eid al-Fitr is also called Lebaran. Travel across the country rises sharply as people return to their hometowns or take trips.

According to the Cabinet Secretariat of Indonesia, at a cabinet meeting on March 13, 2026, the Minister of Transportation reported that about 143.91 million people, or 50.60% of the population, were expected to travel during Lebaran. The minister also said that in 2025, actual travel reached 154 million people, compared with the survey estimate of about 146 million.

Companies doing business with Indonesia can prepare by finishing urgent checks and orders before the holiday period. The 2027 break starts on Saturday, March 6. Setting deadlines on the Japanese side by Friday, March 5, avoids carrying them into the break. Companies that take collective leave return on Tuesday, March 16.

More than 300,000 Indonesians live in Japan

According to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, 307,456 Indonesian nationals lived in Japan at the end of June 2026, ranking sixth by nationality or region. This was an increase of 41,387, about 16%, in six months from 266,069 at the end of 2025. Among the top 10 nationalities and regions, Indonesia had the largest increase in people. The total foreign resident population at the same time was 4,281,026, of whom Indonesians accounted for about 7%.

By residence status, 139,846 were in Technical Intern Training (技能実習) and 108,367 were Specified Skilled Workers (特定技能). Together, they totaled 248,213, about 80% of Indonesian residents. Workplaces with Indonesian colleagues can make adjustments more easily by planning early for Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

During Ramadan, people who fast do not eat or drink from dawn to sunset. In Japan in 2027, this falls in February and March. Sunset times for major cities and regional differences are shown in the table in What Your Place Can Do During Ramadan: Preparing Around Sunset Times, and Customer Flow After the Fast. The Ramadan 2027 article also explains how to interact with people who are fasting at work and how other workplaces have adapted, using examples from a report by a regional office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).

Indonesia’s Eid al-Fitr public holidays on March 10 and 11 are ordinary weekdays in Japan. Before drawing up shifts, ask whether the person wants time off or plans to return home. This helps the workplace plan too. As the government and Muhammadiyah dates may differ by one day, also ask which day the person will attend festival prayers. This makes choosing days off easier.

Besides fasting hours, some people also need time for the five daily prayers. For prayer times and what to consider when providing a place at work, see Islamic Prayer Is Five Times a Day: Prayer Times from Fajr to Isha, and the Direction and Places to Pray in Japan. How people observe fasting and prayer varies. Asking the person before deciding is the reliable approach.

More visitors come to Japan from Indonesia around the Eid al-Fitr holidays

The holidays after fasting are also a time for Indonesians to travel to Japan. In its monthly visitor arrival announcements for 2026, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) links changes in Indonesian visitor numbers with Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

Month (2026)Visitors to Japan from Indonesia (estimates)Year-on-year changeMain points of JNTO’s explanation
February51,200Up 8.9%Fasting reduced travel demand, but last-minute demand before fasting and other factors produced a record for February
March82,800Up 36.6%Eid al-Fitr holidays, school holidays, and other factors produced the highest figure for any month
April62,200Up 1.3%A shift in the timing of the Eid al-Fitr holidays brought increased demand for visits to Japan in mid-March

In 2026, Indonesian visitor arrivals reached a monthly record in March, when the Eid al-Fitr holidays fell. The January–April total was 270,200, up 16.3% from the same period a year earlier. As the February explanation shows, some people also finish their trips before fasting begins. This creates waves of travel to Japan around Ramadan.

The 2027 extended Eid al-Fitr break is March 6–15, so visitor numbers may peak in early to mid-March. Comparing Muhammadiyah’s calendars, Eid al-Fitr moves 11 days earlier, from March 20 in 2026 to March 9 in 2027. Businesses can prepare in time by reviewing their opening hours and food information by around the end of February.

Mealtimes differ depending on when travelers arrive. Ramadan fasting is over after Eid al-Fitr. At the start of the break, around March 6–9, Ramadan is still under way. The Ramadan 2027 article discusses fasting during travel. Whether to continue fasting while traveling varies by person. The article on what businesses can do, mentioned earlier, summarizes preparations during Ramadan.

For how to answer questions about ingredients and cooking at your place, see How to Answer Questions from Muslim Customers: What to Tell Them About Pork, Alcohol, and Cooking Utensils.

How the dates are settled and how to check them

The Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr dates for Indonesia in 2027 are settled in stages. What is already set at the time of writing is Muhammadiyah’s calendar and the government list of public holidays and collective leave days.

The first day of Ramadan will be decided at the sidang isbat in early February 2027. In 2026, the moon was not sighted on the meeting day, and Ramadan began two days after the meeting. There is little time between the meeting and the start of Ramadan. When arranging Ramadan plans with Indonesians, confirming them after the early February announcement can prevent misunderstandings. As the joint government decision states, the Minister of Religious Affairs will also make a separate decision on the date of Eid al-Fitr.

Indonesian government decisions appear in Indonesian on the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Ministry of State Secretariat websites. Muhammadiyah’s calendar website shows a full year. Dates announced by mosques in Japan may differ from those of the Indonesian government. Ultimately, asking colleagues or customers which dates they will follow is the quickest way to find out.

Ramadan 2027 in Indonesia runs from early February to early March. The Eid al-Fitr public holidays are March 10 and 11, and those taking collective leave have an extended break from March 6 to 15. The start and end dates can differ by a day. Check the source of each date when making plans.

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