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I am looking for two separate Japanese phrases that each convey meanings as follows,

  1. A "study season" in which the study or lecture begins to ends with some short holidays in between. For example, a study season of 4 months long that spans from the beginning of April to the end of July with some short holidays (such as golden week or other national holidays).

  2. A "long holiday season following study season" with no study at all. For example, it spans for about 1-3 months after study season.

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I think the word for 'study season' is 学期【がっき】.

In most Japanese elementary and middle schools, there are three 学期 in one school year. 1学期 starts in April and ends in mid July (with Golden Week in May), followed by 夏休み (summer vacation). 2学期 starts in September and ends in December, followed by 冬休み (winter vacation). 3学期 is a relatively short 学期 from January to March. There's 春休み (spring vacation) before the next school year begins, lasting for a few weeks. There are some schools which have irregular systems, but they are called 学期 anyway.

The generic term for long vacations is 長期【ちょうき】休暇【きゅうか】 or 長期【ちょうき】休業【きゅうぎょう】, but these sound stiff and technical. In conversations we just say 夏休み, 冬休み, etc.

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    At the university, we use 前期 (April to early August) and 後期 (October to early February). courses in other times are 集中 and usually only last a week.
    – virmaior
    Commented Nov 10, 2015 at 12:13

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