Best time to visit Japan

January

January is normally cool and dry in Japan, with temperatures as high as 10C in Tokyo and Kyoto and plenty of sun and blue skies. It’s a busy start to the year with New Year celebrations but that also makes January a great time to visit Japan if you want to discover local culture and traditions, including the practice of hatsumode as people visit temples to pray for a good year ahead.

Festivals: Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) runs from January 1-3, with many businesses closing for the period.

Best for: Snow, exploring without the crowds, celebrating Japanese New Year.

February

The weather in February in Japan is similar to January, with slightly higher rainfall but mostly cool, dry and sunny days, and without the crowds of spring and autumn. This month is also the peak ski season in northern Japan, as well as the month for one of its most memorable winter festivals in Sapporo. Warm up with a relaxing soak in an onsen and see the first of the plum trees beginning to blossom this month.

Festivals: The Sapporo Snow Festival takes place in early February, with the chance to marvel at hundreds of intricate sculptures made from snow and ice, many illuminated in different colours.

Best for: Skiing, the Sapporo Snow Festival, exploring without the crowds

March

Although spring officially starts in February, March in Japan is when you’ll see milder temperatures and the start of the year’s blossom season, with plum trees in bloom at the start of the month and the first cherry blossom emerging in the south by the end of March. If you’re visiting Honshu, home to the country’s most popular cities including Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nara and Kanazawa, you can expect a little more rain this month, but warmer days of around 14C along with larger crowds. Hokkaido is still cold, although ski season is starting to come to an end, while in the south, the sun is already shining – temperatures are in the 20s in Okinawa and across Kyushu.

Festivals: Higashiyama’s Hanatoro in Kyoto sees lanterns, light sculptures and installations through the Southern Higashiyama district, bringing a blaze of light to signal the end of winter.
Sakura season also begins, the time to view the cherry blossom as trees begin to bloom, with hanami picnics to celebrate the magical sight.

Best for: Viewing plum blossom and cherry blossom, warmer days to explore, sunny days in Kyushu.

April

April is one of the most popular months for a holiday in Japan. It’s peak cherry blossom month, with other spring flowers blooming too, while temperatures have risen to the high teens across most of the country’s main tourist destinations, and there’s only rain for around 11 days this month. Seeing the delicate pink blossom explode into life is a magical sight, as popular with locals as with visitors, who’ll arrange hanami picnics with friends and family to enjoy the fleeting sight of the beautiful sakura blossom. You’ll need to plan well ahead if you want to visit Japan in April, as bigger crowds mean everything books up faster.

Festivals: You’ll find various sakura festivals taking place from early to mid-April around Tokyo and later in the month in the north of the country. Dates change each year depending on the blossom forecast.
Golden Week begins at the end of April, starting on April 29, with a seven-day holiday across the country featuring special festivities and free museum entry, although some businesses will close or have reduced opening.

Best for: Cherry blossom viewing, great weather to explore, Golden Week celebrations.

May

May is easily one of the best months for a holiday in Japan, with warmer temperatures across the country but before the worst rain and humidity of summer begins. Perfect weather for exploring Tokyo and the nearby cities, although you won’t be the only one to think so. Wisteria trees are bursting into purple splendour across Honshu and even in northernmost Hokkaido, the snow has gone and temperatures hit the mid-teens with cherry blossom still in bloom. The rainy season is getting underway around Okinawa, but you can expect glorious sunshine between the torrential downpours, and highs of around 27C.

Festivals: Golden Week runs until May 5. This series of national holidays includes Children’s Day, when you can see traditional celebrations such as kite-flying, featuring traditional koinobori fish kites.
Sanja Matsuri takes place on the third full weekend in May in Tokyo, with colourful processions, and musicians in traditional costumes parading between the Sensoji Temple and Asakusa shrine

Best for: The best weather to explore, Golden Week celebrations, flowers in bloom.

June

The rainy season starts in earnest in June, the wettest time of all, known as minazuki, the month of water. The heat and humidity also rise this month, making it less pleasant to explore so this definitely isn’t the best time to visit Japan. If you aren’t put off by the wet weather, also known as plum rain, you’ll see the countryside bursting into lush green life as well as hydrangeas flowering. It is drier and cooler in Hokkaido, so you can escape the sticky cities and head out to explore the national parks. If you’re thinking of escaping to the beach, Kyushu’s rains are as tropical as the temperatures, so it’s best to save these for another time.

Festivals: Hydrangea festivals, or Ajisai Matsuri, take place throughout the month as the flowers bloom. Fujinomori Shrine in Kyoto opens its gardens for the whole of June, head to Shimoda Park south of Tokyo, or enjoy the Bunkyo Hydrangea Festival in Tokyo itself.

Best for: Hiking in Hokkaido, hydrangea festivals.

July

The rainy season ends across most of Japan in July, although it’s still a hot and humid month to explore. The temperature can hit 30C in Tokyo and the surrounding cities, and it’s often rainy at the coast so if you’re planning to hit some of the white-sand beaches on Honshu or further south, leave it until later in the month. Instead head to the lakes in Hokkaido or into the mountains to escape the worst of the heat, with July marking the start of the climbing season on Mount Fuji. You’ll also find a string of festivals taking place across the country, so it’s a fun time for a holiday in Japan if you can brave the heat.

Festivals: The Kyoto Matsuri festival takes place in Kyoto, a ceremony dating back to the 9th century, which now includes huge floats parading through the streets. Runs all month but July 17 is one of the highlights.
The Obon Festival honouring the dead takes place in July in parts of Japan which use the solar calendar, including Tokyo, Yokohama, and Tohoku, with music, dancers in eye-catching costumes and floating lanterns.

Best for: Climbing Mount Fuji, exploring the lakes in Hokkaido.

August

The worst of the rains are over by August in Japan, although it stays hot and humid all month except in cooler Hokkaido. Many locals visit family this month so the cities can be quieter although it’s often a busy time to travel around the country. It’s a great time to visit Japan if you want to experience Japan’s traditional festivals, including fireworks galore and dance events across the country.

Festivals: The Obon Festival honouring the dead takes place in August in parts of Japan which use the lunar calendar, with music and dancers in eye-catching costumes. As part of the event, the Awa Odori dance festival attracts over 1.3 million visitors each year, making it the largest in Japan.
August 6 sees the moving ceremony of remembrance at Hiroshima, marking the day the atomic bomb was dropped in the city, with lanterns left to float along the river.
August is also a great month for firework displays. During the first week of the month, there’s a two-day celebration at the Nagaoka Matsuri in Niigata Prefecture with around 20,000 fireworks being set off, while the Edogawa Fireworks in late August uses around 14,000 rockets illustrating a series of different themes.

Best for: Festivals.

September

Temperatures are finally starting to drop again throughout September in Japan, although it can still be hot and humid early in the month. It’s also still typhoon season, with the south of the country worst affected, although these rarely make landfall. In Hokkaido, the leaves start to change colour around mid-month, signalling the beginning of Koyo, as autumn is known, with autumn fruits also ripening in Nagano Prefecture. There’s also another five-day national holiday in late September, known as Silver Week, although unlike Golden Week this only happens occasionally (dates vary, around every six-11 years).

Festivals: The Owara Kaze No Bon Festival runs from September 1-3 in Yatsuo, dating back around 300 years. Originally intended to prevent typhoons and ensure a rich harvest, today it involves plenty of folk dance performances and music on traditional instruments such as the shamisen.
The Seiryu-e Dragon Festival at Kiyomizu Temple takes place on September 14 and 15, featuring dragon dances and traditional performances at one of the most beautiful temples in Kyoto.

Best for: Autumn scenery in Hokkaido, good weather for exploring, fruit-picking in Nagano Prefecture.

October

One of the loveliest months to visit Japan, the temperatures have dropped across the country and the autumn landscape is a riot of golds and reds with the leaves of maple and gingko trees changing colour throughout the month. While Hokkaido is becoming colder, the temperature in the main cities is still around 18-20C, perfect weather for sight-seeing, exploring or getting outdoors, such as on the Nakasendo trail. It’s a great month for a holiday to Japan if you love culture too, with lots of exhibitions traditionally beginning at museums and galleries this month. And the harvest season is firmly underway, with everything from Japanese pears and persimmons to chestnuts turning up on menus across the country.

Festivals: The Takayama Autumn Festival is Japan’s third largest, taking place every October in the Takayama region, celebrating nature’s bounty with dances, marionettes and a parade of decorative floats.
The first weekend and Monday in October sees the annual Nihonmatsu Lantern Festival, one of the most impressive lantern festivals in the country, with festival floats reaching as high as 11 metres tall.
And on October 22, the Jidai Matsuri festival marks the anniversary of Kyoto’s founding with an impressive parade from the Imperial Palace to Heian Shrine.

Best for: Autumn colours, harvest festivals and foods, perfect sightseeing weather.

November

November in Japan might be cool, but you’ll get clear, sunny days with gorgeous blue skies – it’s one of the best times to see Mount Fuji without the usual cloud covering its peak. The autumn colours are blazing in full glory this month, with some spectacular displays of reds and golds in Tokyo and Kyoto, as well as further south. The colours at Osaka Castle are particularly eye-catching. Temperatures range from around 3C-9C in the cities, but wrap up warm and it’s still a great time to explore. Winter has arrived in Hokkaido though, and the country is already preparing for shorter days with evening illuminations brightening up the darker evenings and even the start of some Christmas lights.

Festivals: Gion Odori in Higashiyama sees maiko and geiko perform traditional Japanese dances, usually held on November 1-10.
The Karatsu Kunchi festival from November 2-4 has been celebrating autumn for over 400 years, now recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, with a festival of huge floats marking the event.

Best for: Autumn colours, clear sunny days, great weather for exploring.

December

The start of Japan’s ‘silver season’, December isn’t normally the first choice when deciding on the best time to visit Japan, but if you’re happy to brave the cold, you’ll enjoy the sights with much smaller crowds and clear dry days to explore at the start of the month. Spot the country’s famous snow monkeys warming up in the hot springs at Jigokudani Monkey Park, and mimic them by bathing in one of the thermal hot springs at an outdoor onsen surrounded by snow.

Ryokans, the traditional Japanese inns often attached to the onsens, can be cold as there’s little heating though. The cities come alive with illuminations, as well as a variety of festivals running up to the busier period around Christmas – traditionally celebrated in Japan with dinner from KFC! Further north, the first of the snowfall means the start of the ski season if you’re embracing all that winter has to offer.

Festivals: On December 2-3, the Chichibu Yomatsuri night festival is one of the grandest float festivals in Japan, designated Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, with lavishly decorated floats lit up with lanterns and firework displays.

Best for: Winter illuminations, snow monkeys, skiing.