A question I get asked a lot is, “When’s a good time to come to Japan?” Or basically, in this case, “When’s a good time to come to Kansai?” because that’s the area I can tell you about. Kansai is Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, and down in Wakayama. Why is it called Kansai? Well, that’s for another video.
January/February
First of all, January, February. That’s our winter here in Japan. That’s the coldest two months. But, I’m here at the end of January and it’s a nice day. If you dress nicely for it, this is a perfect time to come.
You know why? Because there’s very few people around. I’ve just been hiking on the Yamanobe no Michi and I’ve barely met anybody. In the summer or during spring, you’re going to meet a lot of people here. I highly recommend January/February as a time to come to Osaka or in the Kansai area.
March/April
And then there’s March and April. Now, that is a time that people do like to come here because they’re hoping to see cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, that is a hit and miss opportunity. You never know. We ourselves don’t know if the cherry blossoms are going to be middle of March, early April, or middle of April.
And, the problem with coming at that time of year? Yes, the weather is nice. However, there are so many people. So if you want to go to the touristy areas in Kyoto or Osaka, you’re going to be battling a lot of crowds. So that’s why I prefer January/February myself.
May
And then there’s May. If you like warm weather, that’s a great time to come. It’s not hot like summer yet. It’s getting nice and warm. It’s just basically perfect.
You do have to be careful though that first week of May. The week that includes the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of May – the whole week becomes what’s called Golden Week. Why? Because the 3rd, 4th and 5th are all national holidays. So most people take the whole week off. A lot of people are out on the road going back to their hometown. And then, at the end, is what we call the U-turn traffic when they’re all coming back again. It’s a bad time to be on the road. So if you think of going somewhere on the road, definitely avoid that week.
But the rest of May, that could be nice.
June/July
And then there’s June and July. The problem with June and July is that somewhere in there, we’re going to have Rainy Season. That’s for about two, three weeks. Lately, it’s been a little shorter, but still, it’s a nasty time. The humidity has ramped up so high, you feel greasy all over. When it does rain, that’s a total relief. But the problem is the rain stops and all that humidity evaporates up again. And the cycle repeats, over and over all day long. It can sap you.
August/September
That brings us to August and September. Now, these definitely are our hotter months, especially in August. The heat goes up quite a few degrees. However, the humidity goes down. So it’s still a bit humid, but not nasty like it is during rainy season.
It’s always about one or two degrees cooler in Osaka than it is up in Kyoto for some reason. Kyoto has that bowl, the mountains around it, which holds in the heat. We get a bit of a breeze down in Osaka. It is a good time to come if you want to avoid crowds, because not as many people are coming here.
October
And then what about October? Well, in October, the temperature starts to go down. However, it is the time when we get typhoons. It’s our typhoon season. We can get a lot more typhoons in October. We can get typhoons basically any time of year, just stray ones, but in October there’ll be one after another coming by. Now, a lot of them don’t hit us. They go right on by. This last year, they were all going out in the Pacific Ocean.
The typhoons do bring rain. So when the typhoon is coming, there’s going to be a lot of rain. You’ll need an umbrella, but sometimes you’ll find that your umbrella is just getting turned inside out by the wind. So a raincoat or something would be a good idea during that time.
November
November, that’s another perfect month, because the weather is really nice in November. And the big thing is we have what’s called Shichi Go San – Seven Five Three. This is when parents bring their three-year-old, their five-year-old, their seven-year-old, back to the shrine, dressed in kimono. You want photo opportunities? Well, that’s the time of year. A lot of my clients on my tours have gotten fantastic photos. They take a picture with these cute little kids and these cute little kimonos. It’s a fantastic time.
Lately, there are a few more people coming in November, but I don’t find it as crowded as cherry blossom time.
December
All right, we’re going through the year and now we’re in December. December can be really good. Up until this last year, for me, it’s been a short-sleeve season. It’s just this nice weather and there’s less people out. This year, for some reason, it got cold early, so we did have a bit of a colder December where it actually dropped down to zero a couple times.
However, it can be a very good time of year to come. There’s a lot of fun things to do in December. You get to see Colonel Sanders dressed up like Santa Claus. And if you stick around for New Year’s, there’s New Year’s Day. I took some people on the second day of January down to the big shrine where we have something called Hatsumode. Hatsumode is the first shrine visit of the year. Absolute fun, total mayhem. We rode down on the tram, because there’s no way you could park down there, and we had a great time. They really enjoyed it. So, hey, December, think about that.
When is the Best Time?
So then, what is the best time of year to come to Japan? Well, in my opinion, if you don’t like crowds, December, January, February, are fantastic – just make sure you bring a winter coat.
On the other hand, if you want to see festivals, then there’s the summer festivals in August. That’s a fantastic time to see festivals. There’ll be a lot of them. End of July, right after rainy season, and early August, a lot of summer festivals going on everywhere. That can be a lot of fun to get involved in.
So, what’s the best time to come? Anytime. Come to Japan. Come to Kansai especially. Forget Tokyo. Come down to Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, and even down to Wakayama Prefecture.
It’s a fantastic place. It’s a lot of fun. You’ll have a good time here.
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