Guide
In Japan the difference between one week and the next is bigger than the difference between one city and the next. Exactly the same itinerary can be the best holiday you have had or seven days of heat, queues and double prices. This page puts the year in order, and at the end comes the part that other guides leave out: how the Jewish holidays fall on Japan's calendar.
The 41 festivals worth building a trip around, with date, hour and price, are in the festival calendar by month. For details by city there is a separate guide to sakura and a separate guide to autumn colour.
The temperature is the daily average in Tokyo. Kyoto is hotter in summer, Sapporo is ten degrees colder in winter.
| Month | Average | What happens | Crowds | Bottom line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5° | The Japanese New Year until the 3rd, and then the great quiet. Snow in Hokkaido and the Alps, the peak of the ski season. | Low | The cheapest and emptiest time of the year, after the first week. Cold and dry, clear skies. |
| February | 6° | The Sapporo Snow Festival at the start of the month. Plum blossom (ume) at the end of the month. | Low | Still cheap. If you are coming for skiing or for the snow monkeys, this is the month. |
| March | 10° | The sakura starts in Kyushu and reaches Tokyo and Kyoto at the end of the month. | High | The last week is already peak season in prices and in crowds. |
| April | 15° | The end of the sakura in Kyoto and Osaka in the first week, and then green and pleasant. In the north it is only starting. Golden Week starts on the 29th. | Peak | The most comfortable weather of the year, and also the most crowded and expensive. |
| May | 19° | Golden Week until the 5th, and after it two excellent weeks. Azaleas and irises. | Medium | From 7 May to the end of the month: perhaps the best window of the whole year. |
| June | 22° | The rainy season (tsuyu) arrives in Honshu. Hokkaido has no rainy season at all. | Low | Cheap, green, empty. The rain comes and goes and closes nothing. Hokkaido is perfect now. |
| July | 26° | The rains end in the middle of the month and then it is hot and humid. The Gion Festival in Kyoto runs all month. | Medium | The heat starts to weigh on you. The festivals partly make up for it. |
| August | 28° | Peak heat and humidity, peak typhoon season, and Obon in the middle of the month. | Peak | The hardest month. 33 degrees and 80 percent humidity is not a number on paper. |
| September | 24° | Typhoons are still possible. Autumn colour starts in mid-month, on the peaks of Hokkaido and the Alps. | Medium | The second half cools down and empties out. Hokkaido is at its most beautiful. |
| October | 19° | Autumn colour in the mountains, at Oku-Nikko and Kamikochi in mid to late month. The cities are still green. Clear air, little rain. | Medium | April weather without April crowds. The month we recommend. |
| November | 13° | Peak autumn colour: Tokyo at the end of the month, Kyoto from the 20th onwards. | High | Very beautiful, and Kyoto is full. Book lodging half a year ahead. |
| December | 8° | Late autumn colour in Kyoto until the start of the month, winter illuminations, and from the 29th everything closes. | Medium | The first three weeks are quiet and cheap. After 28 December you do not travel. |
The thing to understand: full bloom (mankai) lasts five to seven days in any one place, not two weeks. The first forecasts come out between late December and late January, and are accurate to a few days only close to the date. Anyone who buys flights in September is gambling. The way to reduce the gamble is a route that moves with the bloom: start in Tokyo, continue to Kyoto, then north to Kanazawa and Tohoku. In all the years 2021 to 2026 Tokyo reached full bloom before Kyoto, so this order gives you several chances instead of one.
Full bloom: on average 31 March, in 2026 28 March
Full bloom: on average 4 April, in 2026 30 March
Full bloom: on average 31 March, in 2026 3 April
Full bloom: on average 4 April, in 2026 3 April
Full bloom: on average 6 May, in 2026 24 April
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The average is for 1991 to 2020, and recent years run ahead of it, in the north by as much as two weeks. The full sakura guide sets out where to see it in each city, and what to do at Pesach.
Autumn colour is more generous than the sakura: the window is about two weeks rather than one, and it moves from north to south and from the mountains to the cities. That means there is almost always peak colour somewhere, even if you missed it in one place. The temples of Kyoto peak from mid-November, and that is also why lodging there is hard to book in November.
Peak: mid-September
Peak: mid to late October
Peak: late October to early November
Peak: early to mid-November
Peak: mid-November to early December
Peak: ginkgo around 23 November, maple around 28 November
Peak: ginkgo around 22 November, maple around 1 December
Long-term averages. The full autumn colour guide sets out places, prices and night lighting, and where there is colour at Sukkot.
Not only sakura and autumn colour. Each of these is worth a stop on a trip if it falls on your dates. The dates for 2026 and 2027 are stated explicitly, and the rest you check on the place's site before you commit.
Hokkaido, the Aurora icebreaker
The ship sails from 20 January to 31 March, for about an hour, but the ice is not guaranteed and timing depends on it. The operator asks you to book one sailing only, not several as a backup.
Cost ¥7,000, children ¥3,500. The small ship in March ¥9,800, children ¥4,900
Nagano, Jigokudani Monkey Park
The monkeys enter the water mainly when it is cold. The park is open all year, in winter 09:00 to 16:00. From December to April, web ticket holders get priority entry, and the website has a weekly forecast of when the monkeys arrive.
Cost ¥800, children ¥400. The price changes from 1 December 2026, so check the park's website
Ogimachi village, 17:30 to 19:30
Four evenings only, with an advance ticket and no sale on the day. The lottery for lodging in the village closed on 31 October. What is left is bus tours and car parking, and on those days you cannot enter the village without a ticket from 15:30. The viewpoint ticket is not sold separately.
Cost Reserved car parking ¥7,000 for up to 5 people, ¥10,000 for up to 10 people. The second sale is on 1 December at 13:00
Kuwana, near Nagoya
Closed on 6 and 7 January 2027. Buy a ticket in advance at a convenience store, because the wait at the ticket window can be over 30 minutes. On 23 to 25 December you need a dated ticket, and it opens at 15:00.
Cost At a convenience store ¥2,500 until 20 November and from 1 March, and ¥3,000 on other dates. At the window ¥2,700 and ¥3,200, and from 1 March ¥2,500. Includes a ¥1,000 voucher
Mito, Kairakuen garden
About 3,000 trees of about 100 varieties, early and late, so the season is long. The 2026 festival ran from 11 February to 22 March, and the 2027 dates have not been published. Bloom updates start in late January.
Cost ¥320, age 70 and over ¥160
Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, Miharashi Hill
About 5.3 million blue flowers on the hill. In 2026 the peak was on 16 April. The end of the season falls in Golden Week, and on some days it opens as early as 07:00.
Cost ¥800 in the season (¥450 plus a seasonal charge of ¥350; in 2026 from 3 April to 6 May). Free up to the end of junior high
Fuji Motosuko Resort, near Lake Motosu
About 500,000 plants of six varieties. The 2026 festival ran from 11 April to 24 May, 08:00 to 16:00. From Kawaguchiko station it is about 40 minutes on the festival liner bus.
Cost ¥1,000 to ¥1,300, by season. From age 3, ¥500 to ¥700
Kawachi Fujien in Kitakyushu, and Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi
At Kawachi Fujien there is no sale on site: buy a timed ticket in advance at a convenience store or on the website, and there is no public transport or shuttle. In 2026 the garden was open for wisteria from 18 April to 6 May. At Ashikaga the price changes with the bloom, and there is lighting in the evening.
Cost Kawachi: ¥600 in advance, plus up to ¥1,000 at the gate depending on the bloom, ¥1,600 in all. Ashikaga in 2026: ¥900 to ¥2,300
Hase-dera and Meigetsu-in
Hase-dera has about 2,500 bushes. Since 2026 the hydrangea path costs extra on top of entry, and there is also a combined dated, timed ticket on the temple website (in 2026 from 6 to 26 June). At Meigetsu-in the peak is in mid-June, 08:30 to 17:00, and on weekends the queue reaches Kita-Kamakura station.
Cost Hase-dera ¥400 plus a hydrangea ticket. Meigetsu-in ¥500, children ¥300
Nagano, Hotaru Doyo Park
Thousands at the peak, mainly after 19:30. The firefly festival in 2026 ran until 21 June, and the 2027 dates have not been published.
Cost ¥500 contribution to firefly conservation. Free up to the end of junior high
Hokkaido, Farm Tomita
On 13 July 2026 the fields were in full bloom. Open in July 08:30 to 18:00. An important change: the Norokko sightseeing train, which stopped at the seasonal station near the farm, was retired on 23 September 2026, and a new train is planned for 2027, with no details yet.
Cost Free, including parking
Yoshida Trail, Yamanashi
In 2026 from 1 July to 10 September, and the 2027 dates have not been published. A cap of 4,000 climbers a day, and the gate closes from 14:00 to 03:00 for anyone not staying in a mountain hut. We did not check the Shizuoka-side trails here.
Cost ¥4,000 passage fee (2026)
Hokkaido, about 100 km from Sapporo by car
About 2 million sunflowers on about 23 hectares. The 2026 festival ran from 20 July to 18 August, and the town announced full bloom on 10 August. The fields bloom at different times, so they are not all at their peak on the same day.
Cost Entry is free. The maze ¥300, the tractor wagon ¥500, children ¥300, parking ¥500
Hidaka, Saitama, 15 minutes from Koma station
The 2026 festival ran from 21 September to 6 October. Entry costs money only during the bloom, so the dates move every year. Sukkot 2027 is too late for these flowers. In the season there are traffic jams of 5 to 10 km, so come by train.
Cost ¥500 during the bloom (in 2026 from 19 to 30 September, then free). Free up to the end of junior high
Hitachinaka, Ibaraki prefecture, Miharashi Hill
In 2026 at its peak from 10 October, and the park speaks of a week to 10 days. At Sukkot 2027 this is an option for colour without going up a mountain, on a day trip from Tokyo.
Cost ¥800 including the seasonal supplement. Free up to the end of junior high school
These are not holidays that are fun to watch, these are weeks in which 120 million people travel inside the country at once. The dates below are for 2027.
Many museums, restaurants and shops are closed. Families travel home and the trains are full. The shrines, on the other hand, are busy and impressive.
Four holidays in a row. The whole country travels inside itself. Lodging prices double and a shinkansen without a reserved seat means standing.
The family memorial holiday. Huge domestic travel exactly in the worst heat. Small businesses close for a week.
The rainy season (tsuyu) lasts from early June to mid July in most of Honshu, and a month earlier in Okinawa. It closes nothing: the rain falls on and off, the trains run, and the green is at its peak. Hokkaido is the only region of Japan without a rainy season, which makes June an excellent month there.
Typhoons are a different story. The season runs from May to October and peaks in August and September, mainly in Kyushu, Shikoku and Okinawa. A real typhoon shuts down train lines for 12 to 24 hours and cancels domestic flights. How to deal with it in practice: leave one free day in the itinerary, buy travel insurance that covers delays, and do not plan a domestic flight on the day after the end of the trip.
This is where planning around the Jewish and Israeli calendar really differs from general advice. Many of us fly at Sukkot, at Pesach and in the summer school holiday, and each of them lands on a completely different Japan.
5 to 12 December 2026 (the eve is 4 December)
The first three weeks of December are quiet and cheap, and the big year-end celebrations have not started. At the start of the holiday you can still catch the end of the autumn colour: Tofuku-ji and Eikan-do in Kyoto and the night lighting at Rikugien in Tokyo finish on 6 December. After that it is cold and dry, a good time for the cities and the winter lights.
22 to 28 April 2027 (the eve is 21 April)
Two problems that fall together. First, the bloom in Tokyo and Kyoto ends long before the holiday. In 2021 to 2026 full bloom in both came on 5 April at the latest. Second, the holiday ends on 28 April, and Golden Week starts the next day. Anyone who stays a few more days after the holiday goes straight into the most crowded week in Japan. If you must travel at Pesach: book lodging by December 2026, and trains 30 days ahead, when they open. For sakura go far north, to Hakodate and Sapporo, because in Tohoku the bloom now comes before the holiday.
16 to 22 October 2027 (the eve is 15 October)
The heat is over, typhoon season is almost behind you, the air is clear and no Japanese holiday clashes. Autumn colour has not reached the cities: that week there is colour only in the mountains, at Oku-Nikko, Kamikochi and on the Shinhotaka Ropeway. On 22 October Kyoto has two festivals, Jidai Matsuri by day and Kurama at night. By then it is the eve of Shabbat and Simchat Torah.
11 to 17 April 2028 (the eve is 10 April)
An early Pesach, so it is two weeks before Golden Week. In 2021 to 2026 full bloom came on 1 to 13 April in Nagano, 6 to 19 April in Morioka and 11 to 22 April in Aomori, so the north of Honshu falls right on the holiday. The Takayama spring festival, on 14 and 15 April, is inside the holiday. The 2028 bloom forecast will come out only at the end of 2027, so book with a cancellation option.
5 to 11 October 2028 (the eve is 4 October)
Earlier, so there is still a typhoon risk, and the cities are still fairly warm and green. On the other hand, two festivals fall inside the holiday: Kunchi in Nagasaki on 7 to 9 October, and the Takayama autumn festival on 9 and 10 October. 9 October is also a Japanese holiday, Sports Day, so that weekend is busier. Buy a flight you can change.
July and August
This is when families on the Israeli school calendar are free, and it is also the least comfortable time in Japan: 33 degrees with 80 percent humidity, peak typhoons, and Obon in the middle of August. If there is no choice: go to Hokkaido or the Japanese Alps, where it is cooler by 8 to 10 degrees, and plan to spend midday indoors.
Six months ahead
Six months ahead
A month ahead, and in peak season the moment it opens (30 days)
On the day of sale, the 10th of the previous month, at 10:00 Japan time
Two weeks ahead, a month for weekends
One to three months, usually through the hotel
In one line
If you are free to choose: from 7 May to the end of May, or all of October. April weather without April crowds. If you are tied to the holidays: Sukkot is better than Pesach, and Pesach needs booking half a year ahead.
Checked on 1 November 2026. Blossom and autumn colour forecasts are updated every year, so it is worth checking again in January.