Hi !
we are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids who are dreaming of visiting Japan. The bad thing is that we only have summer time. I,ve read that the weather could be awfull in summer there. We have budget for 22-28 days trip.

Should we avoid at all cost going in Japan in Summer or it could be manageable ?

People differ a great deal in their tolerance for heat, humidity, and rain, so I doubt that any of us can answer that question for you!

A good source of climate data is timeanddate.com

And for a trip to delightful Japan, japan-guide.com is an excellent starting point for your research.

When in summer? June is quite different from August.. And of course it depends where you go - but my immediate response is even Tokyo in August is worth a trip. August is high season for heat and humidity - but also for festivals, fireworks, dancing in the street...

Been to Tokyo in June and it wasn’t bad at all that year. Also have visited in August and it was extremely hot, humid and unpleasant weather wise. Combated the August weather with zaru soba, hiyashi ramen, kaki gori (Japanese shave ice with fruit and ice cream - delicious!!!) and outdoor beer gardens.

Summer is my least favorite season, but would go in a heartbeat if given the chance, right Boveney!

Our vacation are from july 5 to august 20.....No choice there.

Questions :
1) is there region in japan where heat is not bad at all ?
2) What is the must seen for a first time visit ?

thanks !

Obon season and the fireworks are worth visiting during the summer months. Do what the Shogun and nobility used to do in the summer and head for the hills lol. Nikko and Hakone higher up in places like Gora are good to go to try and escape the heat and worse the humidity of the summer months. Lots of great scenery in both places and many venues to visit. There are also amusement parks near both areas to keep the children entertained. Both areas are relatively close to Tokyo.

Don't forget about the tsuyu or rainy season that accompanies this time of year.

Aloha!

I again suggest that you try looking at japan-guide.com

I am not a fan of Japan in the summer. Early June isn't that bad for heat but than you are into the rainy season until about mid July and than it gets really hot. My sister was in Japan in late July and reported it to be awful and this comes from someone who has lived in the south. My friends tell me that temperatures are reaching towards 40 some days. It was bad enough in the low 30s with high humidity. Might have nice weather for the day after a typhoon. I would rather go in January. I tend to walk 10-15 miles a day when traveling around Japan and that would not be fun in the heat of summer. Remember that even if you live somewhere hot, you are not out and about all day touring around.

YES! Hokkaido and northern Honshu are not humid as hell - in fact they are truly a paradise in summer.


Furano in July

There is a lot of gorgeous scenery and places that far fewer tourists go.



Hokuryu Sunflowers in Hokkaido, August - over 1.5 million of them!


Northern Honshu also has a lot of great places - Hirosaki, the Shimokita Peninsula, the Oirase Stream, Towadako, Kakunodate, the Sanriku Coast, Yamadera, hot springs galore, and so many others.



Oirase Stream, Aomori



Mototaki Falls, Akita - a jewel all for yourself!


Here comes the problem - for most people it is visiting Tokyo and Kansai (Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Himeji, Kobe, etc). Which means going into the horrible, sticky muggy heat - like walking through a steam bath every day. Yeah, near the equator is even worse, but there are many experienced travlers who go down to SE Asia, and then still find Japan is no picnic by any means. I was walking 8-15 miles a day on a recent trip, drinking 2-4 liters of water through the day, and I was barely staving off getting dehydrated. Even so, you should go where you want to, not simply walk down the same well worn beaten path. You can escape a lot of the heat by going to the mountains - the Japan Alps can be very beautiful.
If you have not done so, try browsing the JNTO website, plus Japan Guide and the official city webpages - they all have great tourist guides with places listed nowhere else.

Timing your visits at some places can make a huge difference at popular places as well. The Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto becomes like a morning rush hour train station during the day, so going when it first opens at 9 AM can give you a much better experience. Likewise, the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto gets very crowded too, with mobs of people tripping over each other taking photos and the like - but it is open 24/7 so going in the very early morning or evening can really make it a lot better for you.
For many places, you will be anything but alone in Tokyo, Kyoto, etc. Japan is aiming to double the number of tourists going to Japan from 2015 (20 million people) to 2020 (40 million people), and they are much along the way of doing so. I can really see a difference from visits I took just 4 and 6 years ago, and compaared to the 1980s it's a totally different situation.

It totally depends on how you can tolerate heat and humidity. I have gone to Japan in both Summer 2017 and Summer 2018 and have already bought my plane ticket for Summer 2019. All in the months of July and August. I've been in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka and some outer areas of both Tokyo and Kyoto. I much prefer heat over cold and thus would never go to Japan in the winter. But, I guess that's from being from L.A. area and being used to hot weather. I don't find the areas of Japan, in summer, any hotter than when I spend 6 weeks straight in S.E. Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore). So, as for heat, well that's a personal thing.

Happy Travels!

I did that last year.

as others have said, it really depends on you. I loved the festivals, and the seasonal foods. I’ve told people that I probably wouldn’t do it again, though.

If I DID go in the summer again:

I would avoid August. July was bad enough. August is really not fun.

I would spend more money on lodging. Returning to A/C and central lodging was absolutely a priority.

I'd pack extra underwear, more dresses, linen pants. You’ll probably want to change for dinner. Cotton absorbs water—unpleasant when you start sweating the minute you step outside.

in public spaces, a/c isn’t as high as you’d expect. And sometimes, if there is a pool at your hotel, there’s a separate usage fee. (I liked that, though, fewer people).

The biggest problem (for me) is that the castles and gardens and shrines are (of course) not air conditioned. Most of the cultural stuff most people go for turns into a lesson in endurance, and by and large, Japan isn’t a stay up late kind of place. Things close earlier than you’d expect. Osaka was refreshing because I could stay out late.

Japan is walking intensive, and less accessible that you’d expect. So stairs are often involved. You don’t have to be an athlete, by any means, but you might want to consider whether that weather sounds like something you want to sightsee in. I really enjoyed my trip, but I would have enjoyed it a LOT more if I hadn’t had to endure the heat.

Thanks for all those answers, they give us a lot to think about. My wife and I can tolerate the heat, but it will be harder for the kids. For now I think we would have to postpone that trip. Too bad that our vacations are in July-august, There's nothing we can do about that.....

For me if it’s a choice of traveling to Japan in August or not going at all, I would go and deal with the weather as best I could. The warnings here are primarily so you are aware of what you need to be prepared for and to schedule and plan accordingly. Japan is a great destination in any season, just better in certain ones.

Guenmai, I prefer winter over summer as I can layer up lol. Where I live there are two seasons, warm and a bit less warm.

curiousgeo: LOL! I'm not one who likes to layer up as I can't stand having to wear a lot of clothing. Sometimes when I have to go somewhere where I actually have to wear layers of clothing and a coat to stay warm, I can barely balance myself as I feel like I'm going to tip over. When I was in Taipei in Jan/Feb 2018, and it was 9C, I wasn't a happy camper about the weather. I was so glad to get back to weather in Singapore, where I could thaw out, before flying home to L.A. about a week later. LOL! I am planning to throw in Taipei this summer on the trip back to Japan as I plan to also be in Fukuoka and it's only around a 2 hour-plus flight. I have heard that it's also hot in Taipei in summer. Bring on the heat!

Happy Travels!

Are we talking about Louisiana or Los Angeles as being LA? I can see the comparison to Louisiana but I never found the summers in Los Angeles to be particularly hot and certainly nothing like Tokyo in the summer.

I would still go, because Japan is worth it, but August in Japan is as hot as I have ever been in my life. Bring at least two sets of clothes for each day, so you can change.

Yes, I'm talking about L.A.= Los Angeles and not LA=Louisiana as I've written L.A. upthread. Anyhow, although it's usually pretty dry here in L.A. (County), we have had plenty hot days and some that were also humid. Some type of rain storm is to come tonight and tomorrow and we were just at work, yesterday talking about it and how we will then end up in hot and humid and the mosquito problem probably getting worse than it already is.

I remember both hot and humid days and have been here since a child. Plus, it's not uncommon for our temperatures to get higher than what I have experienced in both Tokyo and Kyoto areas. We all realize that August, Sept, and part of October can be really hot here. Plus, with L.A. County being 500 square miles big, the temperatures can vary greatly from one part of the county to the other. I'm not one who lives in a coastal area of L.A. County.

When I was moving into one of my apartments around 15 years ago, it was as hot as 112F/ 44.4C. The apartment was upstairs and I had no central air and lived there for 11 years. Try sleeping in those high temps during the hot summer months. And over the period that I was moving in, the outdoor thermometers were reading as high as 112F/44.4C and I was going up and down stairs carrying heavy items. But, I survived it.

Also this past summer, I think it was, my best friend who lives across the freeway in the heart of The Valley, e-mailed me and it was hotter than 112F the day that she was e-mailing me. I have also seen the huge, digital thermometers on buildings that give the temperatures. And yes, Japan is more humid than L.A. in general, but I haven't experienced 44.4C or above in Japan. So, for me personally, hot is hot whether it's an average of 35C plus humidity or 44.6C or above and low humidity. And friends and acquaintances are out in the heat walking around and going about their daily lives here in the heat and people are on public transportation getting to and from where they need to go and the tourists are out in the heat. I've been plenty times at Disneyland (Orange County) in the hell-hot heat of summer and was also at Disney Sea, in Tokyo, just at the end of July this past summer and was out in that Tokyo-Disney area for many hours and it was hot.

Happy Travels!

I agree, Japan doesn’t get as hot as LA. I flew back into LAX after the Japan trip and made the mistake of taking transit to the Huntington. Just about died. At least in Japan there are cold beverages nearly every block. I just have a hard time with humidity.

I think with Japan it depends a lot on what you want to do. My main regret about that time of year was the gardens, but a lot of people probably aren’t into gardens.

OP, if it is your only time, I’d go, and take it easy. The kids will love the sights, and food, and fireworks. The Japanese really get into their festivals, and I think kids would love those. Dressing up, weird sweet drinks, fire in the sky, maybe even floating lanterns—that’s pretty much what summer was made for

I agree Marvelousmouse as I have lived here since a small child as I live in Pasadena. I can walk to the Huntington Library in about 40 minutes from where I live downtown. It can get much hotter here than what I have experienced in Japan, in the heat of summer, as I walk around Pasadena in the heat just as I walked around both Kyoto and Tokyo in the heat.

Happy Travels!

It really depends on how much heat you can tolerate. Not sure how old your children are but if they are a young age they may not be able to tolerate it. Also it depends when you go. But June is rainy season so I wouldn't recommend going. So July is probably the best. It'll still be hot but it is more manageable compared to August and beginning of September. End of July it'll start to get really hot.