When to Visit Japan: A Local’s Guide to the BEST & WORST Seasons

When to Visit Japan: A Local’s Guide to the BEST & WORST Seasons

There are good season and bad season in Japan. But do you actually have a choice when to visit Japan? Work, school, family, health, dog. Sometimes you are stuck to fixed schedule. The beautiful season often said cherry blossom season and autumn forest season. But maybe that’s not the point for you. And the best season can be sometimes the busiest and the most expensive season. So in this video, I’d like to talk about the best season for different purposes to visit Japan. And also I’d like to talk about the solution for the case you have to visit during the not so good season like midsummer. This is the third tip of 30 to tips of Japan. When to visit Japan [Music] first let’s go over the season from January to December. What you can expect during your stay in Japan. generally starts with a new year holidays and usually from the first to the third. Japanese people take day off to go to praying in the shrine or temples. This is a vivbit with lots of people going shopping and going praying. But many stores can be closed, especially small individual shops. So if you have a specific shop you like to visit during that time, you might want to check with the store. And after the New Year’s, it can be a very quiet time. one of the most off season throughout the year and hotels and theme parks can be a lot more reasonable this time of the year but some area might get affect by the lunar new year by other Asian countries. Japan doesn’t celebrate Luna New Year’s but other country does so they might visit Japan for that holiday. The big event during this time of the year is a support snow festival. come to the snow even though it’s supposed to be the officer season not in the snow resort like top ski resort like Hokkaido Nago can be the top season during this time in March early chome starts to bloom and this is the season depending on where you go you see different scenery if you go to mountain or northern Japan they are still under the deep snow but in the Tokyo you start to see the blooming of the flowers for springs and in Okinawa some beach starts to open and the end of the March to the early April, the cherry blossom starts to bloom across Japan and usually it starts from Tokyo or southern part of Japan and it goes towards north throughout to the April and may begin with the golden week which is one of the biggest holidays throughout the year in Japan. As the weather get better, many people travel during this time. So things can be very busy but city can be a little more empty during this time. And for international travelers after golden week, one of the best season in my opinion. It can be a little bit less people. Everyone is back to work and it’s a nice mild weather that you can wear short sleeves usually. But this good season doesn’t last that long because from May from Okinawa rainy season starts. Usually most of Japan except Hokkaido is covered by rainy season. This rainy season varies. Some years the rain continues but some years it can be very dry that you see very sunny days and can be very hot and this rainy season usually finishes by July and you see midsummer. It can be very nice weather across Japan but it can be very hot. Tokyo’s heat can be about 40° C, 100 Fahrenheit, but you also find only summer funs like festivals and fireworks. And summer has another big holiday called Oubong holiday. It’s a tradition that your ancestor comes back to the cemetery or your home. So everyone go back to the hometown for about a week or 10 days. So this is another busy season that people goes to different places for sightseeing and leisures. And this summer heat will come down by early September and autumn starts. But this typhoon season is around this time too. So typhoon can come anytime. But once it comes long distance train can stop can bring a lot of barriers to your travel. So this is one season you might want to be careful for the weather forecast. In the transition from summer to autumn can be raining but the weather get much milder and easier to walk outside and autumn for start from the end of September in the mountain region and it continues towards the December in Tokyo and by December cities are filled with illuminations for holiday season. Japan doesn’t celebrate Christmas as a holiday but everyone celebrates as an event. So you have extra fun to enjoy the cities during the December and after the Christmas Japanese people get ready for the New Year’s holidays which is more important for Japanese people and this is the all over image of the year from January to December and from that which season sounded like the best one for you and usually spring after chome season and autumn are the best season you can see the beautiful ch blossoms and lots of greens after that and autumn it’s beautiful with lots of autumn fall trees but it can be also expensive season all over the country so you may want to make sure to make reservation in advance if you go to a popular spot like Kyoto if you are coming to Japan for autumn foliage recent years it’s getting a little later than before and usually in Tokyo Kyoto you can see end of November towards early December and this is just a tendency and not guaranteed But uh as it get closer to the winter, the days are sunnier. But this is for usual sightseeing and depends on the activities other season might be better for you. For example, if you go to like a national parks like Mount Tuji, you can see more clearly in winter time and it’s snowcapped just like you imagine when you hear Mount Huji. So in December you start to see the beautiful Mount Tuji with snows and sometimes it can be a little bit later and for January, February, March you can see the most beautiful Mount Tuji fully covered with snow. If you go to Kamikoi or Alpine root of Japan’s Alpus area, you might want to be careful because they are closed during the mid winter. They close in certain dates in November to April. So during that time, unless you are serious winter mountain climber, regulator cannot enter there. So that is something you might want to be careful. So you might want to make sure to check the closing date and opening date. If you’re visiting in November or April in case you come to Japan for the winter activities like skiing, snowboarding, end of December, usually ski resort opens and it continues sometime towards early May with limited courses. Mostly probably it’s better to think it’s until the end of March with lots of snows but this time of the year like top resorts like Hokkaido NO Nano Hakuba Chiko can be very busy and in order to so I tried to book the hotel in no one time because I went to enjoy the skiing and also the hot springs and just kind of storing another town. Those pocket spots are so expensive for what I get. So you may want to be able to lady for the budget and also and make sure to make reservation in advance because popular can be so quickly. And in case you like to save the budget, saving budget is most important for you. And probably two things that cost the most is the hotels and the airfares. Maybe you can look for the cheapest tickets and see throughout the year when you can find the this number of flight and hotel is a little more easier to save as there are lots of choices. If you beat cities and times that are not listed as a best season like a Tokyo or Kyoto in mid winter or midsummer can be a lot more reasonable. So avoiding the busy season can be a best hack for saving the budget. But now what if you have to visit in the so-called the worst season like summer? I think for Japan trips there are different factors can be called not so good but probably that will be summer heat, typhoon and crowded long holidays. Summer is not a good season especially if you are visiting with someone with senior group or summer has physical difficulties. But if you have to visit maybe in daytime which can be the hottest you can try to stay indoors like a shopping mall aquarium or museums at night you can do more things there are lots of different tools to hack like there’s a kind of cold towel to put around and there’s a electric fan that you can hold around and but I think very important thing is to stay hydrated and take a rest well and also use the umbrella to protect your head from the sun. It can be hotter than cap but I think umbrella is very good because it the air go through so it doesn’t get much hot. Japanese summer can be very humid. And next one is a storm. This can be often happen in midsummer to early autumn and if storm comes the problem is the long distance train can stop. So recently they stop in advance so passenger doesn’t get stuck on train. Sometimes I see news that all the trains are stopped suddenly and passengers are stuck on the train. The point is if you have a choice, maybe it’s good to stay in the city and so you can have a little more accessibility as subway is usually moving and you can go to different places and stores are usually not closing. But in case you have no choice, you have to get on those trains, make sure you bring lots of food and drinks because after a while they might give away the emergency water to you, but uh it might take time. Make sure to bring lots of food and drinks except the echiban like a bento lunch box. So I always buy a lot and always end up eating everything in first like 10 minutes or something. But uh it’s always to save some for later so you can have it for emergency. In my opinion, always a little too much is better. But first of all, make sure to check the weather forecast where while you’re staying in Japan. And is there any hack for the long holidays like a golden week? Usually for those long holidays or long weekend, the sightseeing spots like or theme parks like Disneyland or Universal Studios can be very busy. But in the city can be sometimes empty. Your idea is hitting those holidays. Maybe good to put those days in stay in the city and after that you can go to across Japan. But I know it doesn’t go that well and in case you have to go travel around maybe you can make sure to book in. Japanese train company starts accepting reservation a month before either 9:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. and a Shinkas and a Tokaido route from Tokyo to Kyoto Osaka they start to accept reservation a year ago for the hur rate and 3 months in advance for the discount rate. So fit season looks like your favorite season to visit Japan. So now that you know where to go in Japan and when to visit Japan, you may wonder how much should you prepare for the trip? How much things cost in Japan? So in the next video, I’d like to talk about the how much things cost in Japan, how much maybe you need to save for Japan trip. Thank you for watching. Have a great trip to Japan.

Do you have a choice when you can take time for Japan vacation? In this video, I’d like to go over the seasonal guide by month to month, and think of the solutions for travelers visiting during the “not the best” month. Please note that the best month and “wrong” month is different depends on travelers.

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Chapters:
0:00 Good month and Wrong month
0:53 Seasonal Guide January to June
3:12 Seasonal Guide July to December
4:58 Best Season for Sight Seeing
5:53 Best Season for National Parks in Japan
7:42 Best Season for Budget Travel
8:27 Turn the Worst to the Best Season
10:37 Holidays in Japan

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