Find your reasons 理由

September 長月 · now

Heat lingers to the middle of the month, then the first cool nights; typhoons are at their most frequent, so keep plans loose. Silver Week, a run of holidays around the third Monday, brings domestic crowds for a few days. One of the quietest months of the year for foreign visitors.

In seasonMoon-viewingCosmosAutumn foliage

Busy daysSilver Week · Sat 19 – Wed 23 Sep

October 神無月

Mild and settling, with the air clearing as the month goes on; a typhoon is still possible, and October is Tokyo’s wettest month of the year. Still warm in Okinawa, cooling fast in Hokkaido. The second busiest month for foreign visitors in both 2024 and 2025.

In seasonMoon-viewingCosmosAutumn foliage

Busy daysSports Day · Mon 12 Oct

November 霜月

The driest, clearest weeks of the year begin on the Pacific side: bright days, cold nights, six or seven wet days in Tokyo and Kyoto; Sapporo is down to single figures by day, with rain or snow on half the days. Kyoto is at its most crowded in the second half of the month. In the upper half of the year for foreign arrivals.

In seasonCosmosAutumn foliageMount Fuji viewsSnow

Busy daysCulture Day · Tue 3 NovLabour Thanksgiving Day · Mon 23 Nov

December 師走

Cold and clear on the Pacific side, among the driest months in Tokyo; snow settles in Hokkaido, the Alps and along the Japan Sea coast, and Okinawa stays around 20°. Quiet until the last week, when Japan travels for the New Year and museums, gardens and shops close for a few days each, on their own dates between the 26th and 4 January. The busiest month of 2024 for foreign visitors, the fifth of 2025.

In seasonAutumn foliageMount Fuji viewsSnow

Busy daysNew Year holidays · Tue 29 Dec – Sun 3 Jan

January 睦月

Cold, dry and bright on the Pacific side, Tokyo’s sunniest month; snow lies deep from Hokkaido to the Japan Sea coast, and Okinawa stays mild. Shrines are packed for the first three days of the year, then the country goes quiet. Foreign arrivals swing with the Lunar New Year: the quietest month of 2024, the third busiest of 2025.

In seasonPlum blossomMount Fuji viewsSnow

Busy daysNew Year holidays · Tue 29 Dec – Sun 3 JanComing of Age Day · Mon 11 Jan

February 如月

Still cold and clear on the Pacific side, with snow in the north and along the Japan Sea coast; the days lengthen and the first mild afternoons come late in the month. One of the two quietest months of the year for foreign visitors.

In seasonPlum blossomMount Fuji viewsSnow

Busy daysNational Foundation Day · Thu 11 FebEmperor's Birthday · Tue 23 Feb

March 弥生

Winter lets go, and the weather swings from warm to cold within a day, with more rain than in the winter months; Sapporo still has snow underfoot. Quiet in the first half, then crowds and prices climb from the middle of the month and stay high into April.

In seasonPlum blossomCherry blossomSnow

Busy daysVernal Equinox Day · Sun 21 MarSubstitute holiday · Mon 22 Mar

April 卯月

Mild days and cool evenings, the most comfortable weather of the spring; Sapporo is only now thawing, Okinawa is already summery. The busiest month of the year for foreign visitors in 2025, and Golden Week begins on the 29th, when Japanese travellers fill the trains and hotels as well.

In seasonCherry blossomWisteria

Busy daysGolden Week · Thu 29 Apr – Wed 5 May

May 皐月

Golden Week runs into the first week, then Japan’s own travellers go home and the weather is at its best before the rains: warm, long light, low humidity. The rainy season starts in Okinawa around the 10th and reaches southern Kyushu at the end of the month. The fourth busiest month for foreign visitors in 2025.

Rainy seasonbegins · Okinawa 10 May, Amami 12 May, Southern Kyushu 30 May

In seasonCherry blossomWisteriaFireflies

Busy daysGolden Week · Thu 29 Apr – Wed 5 May

June 水無月

The rainy season settles over Honshu in the first week, over Kyushu from the end of May, and lifts from Okinawa around the 21st; Hokkaido has no rainy season at all. Warm and humid, with about twelve wet days in Tokyo and Kyoto. A middling month for foreign arrivals, well below the spring peak in 2025.

Rainy seasonbegins · Northern Kyushu 4 Jun, Shikoku 5 Jun, Chugoku 6 Jun, Kansai 6 Jun, Tokai 6 Jun, Kanto 7 Jun, Hokuriku 11 Jun, Southern Tohoku 12 Jun, Northern Tohoku 15 Jun · ends · Okinawa 21 Jun, Amami 29 Jun

In seasonFirefliesHydrangeaLavender

July 文月

The rains lift around the 19th from Kyushu to Kanto, a week later in Tohoku, and the heat arrives at once: over 30° by day in Tokyo and Kyoto, nights in the low twenties. Typhoons start to come more often. Hokkaido stays in the mid-twenties and is the comfortable place to be. A middling month for foreign arrivals.

Rainy seasonends · Southern Kyushu 15 Jul, Shikoku 17 Jul, Northern Kyushu 19 Jul, Chugoku 19 Jul, Kansai 19 Jul, Tokai 19 Jul, Kanto 19 Jul, Hokuriku 23 Jul, Southern Tohoku 24 Jul, Northern Tohoku 28 Jul

In seasonFirefliesHydrangeaLavenderSunflowers

Busy daysMarine Day · Mon 19 Jul

August 葉月

The hottest month, 31° in Tokyo and 34° in Kyoto by day, with nights that hardly cool; typhoons come most often now and in September. Obon, around the 13th to 16th, is when much of Japan travels, and trains and hotels fill for those days. Foreign arrivals sit in the lower half of the year; the mountains and Hokkaido stay bearable.

In seasonLavenderSunflowers

Busy daysMountain Day · Wed 11 AugObon · Fri 13 – Mon 16 Aug