The Best Time to Visit Japan

Deciding when to visit your chosen destination is one of the most important decisions in travel planning.

Japan has 4 distinct seasons and so your experience will be very different from season to season. Knowing what to expect in each season will help you find the best time to visit.

In Japan, March, April and May are classified as Spring, while summer is June, July and August. September, October and November fall under the season of Autumn. And when we say winter, we usually think of December, January and February.

Spring - March, April and May

What’s good to know is that Japan’s year begins in April.

That’s when a new fiscal year starts for major corporations and companies in Japan.

That’s why the beginning of April is the time when new graduates start their job, while some other employees are transferred to a new office.

Also, a new school year kicks off in April and so does an academic year for universities.

So, Japanese people usually think of a new beginning or a fresh start for April.

The landscape that’s strongly associated with this is cherry blossoms because cherry blossoms are usually in bloom when entrance ceremonies and welcome parties are taking place.

Some of these parties are actually held under the cherry blossom trees, which is called Ohanami, which literally means cherry blossom viewing.

Sakura or cherry blossom flowers only last for one week or two at most. Sakura flowers tend to fall off by strong wind or rain. Their flowers are pale pink, which is considered more of Japanese beauty.

Japanese people have traditionally appreciated the cherry blossoms, as they compared the short-lived fragile flowers to the transience of their life.

When sakura flowers are beginning to turn green, other types of flowers will start to bloom, including azalea, wisteria and iris flowers.

Apart from flowers, rice planting takes place in May, in most parts of the main Honshu island.

Rice farming is strongly linked to Japanese lifestyles. Rice is Japan’s staple food and you can see rice fields almost everywhere in Japan.

That’s why many spring festivals are taking place in order to pray for a good harvest.

Summer - June, July and August

The rice planting will be completed before the rainy season starts in June.

During the rainy season, what brightens up a day is hydrangea flowers. Their variety is huge and this is the symbol of June for the Japanese.