Hi everyone!
I'm Amy from Cakes with Faces
And welcome back to my Japlanning series
Of tips & advice
To help you plan your trip to Japan
Today it's something some of you have asked for
When's the best time to go to Japan?
Now I think there's 4 things to consider:
Special events
The weather
Crowds & prices
I'm going to talk you through each of them
If you want more help for planning your trip
All my Japlanning videos are together in a playlist on my channel
There's loads of ideas for things to do on there as well
There's new videos every Thursday if you want to subscribe
So let's get started
Special Events
I'm going to start with the most popular thing
Which is of course the cherry blossoms, the sakura
They're actually quite early
At the end of March or start of April
They're not always at exactly the same time
They can be early or late
And they don't last for very long
That's part of why they're so special
Because they're so beautiful
But you know they're going to be gone in a couple of days
So they can be quite difficult to catch
They publish a cherry blossom forecast online
Which tells you when they're going to bloom in different parts of the country
So you can go north or south to catch them
And there are varieties that bloom earlier or later
When I went in April
I thought we were going to be too late
Especially as they bloomed early that year
But then, as I knew we might catch them
I got a kind of cherry blossom fever
And started looking up all the best spots
Then when we were in Fukuoka
I found this one cherry blossom tree
And I was so excited
There were people laughing at me as I took this picture
And then when we got to Osaka
We managed to catch the cherry blossom festival at the mint
And it was so good
Not because of the flowers
But because of just the whole atmosphere
And how excited everyone was
And all the food stalls
It was so good
There's a video on my channel
Someone in the comments
Said someone told them it's not worth going to Japan
Unless you go in cherry blossom season
Now that's not true at all
There's so much more to see & do in Japan
Cherry blossoms are just one thing
Something to consider
Is because everyone wants to see them
It's going to be a lot more crowded than usual
At that time
If you like flowers
There are loads of other different types
At different times of year
That are just as beautiful
That's why I did this drawing
It shouldn't all be about the cherry blossoms
So just before the sakura
In late February
There's the plum blossoms
Which are a deeper pink colour
There's the wisteria in April & May
They make tunnels of them with all the purple flowers hanging down
There's the hydrangea in June & July
And all around Japan
There's flower parks
Where they plant whole fields full of colour
They're really beautiful
Now the other thing a lot of people go and see
Is the autumn or fall colours
Now autumn's quite late in Japan
So they're around November time
They have a lot of red leafed trees
And maple trees
And they're really beautiful
You can look up the best spots to see them
And take pictures
Now the other special events you might want to catch
Are festivals or matsuri
There's actually loads of festivals
All year round
In different areas
So there's a good chance you'll be able to catch one
Especially there's lots in the summer
Now it is really hot & humid in the summer
But if you do brave the humidity
Your reward
Is you'll get to go to lots of festivals
With dancing
People wearing yukata (that's summer kimonos)
Street food stalls
Kakigori shaved ice
And fireworks
I saw a video the other day
And Japanese fireworks are so good
They had some types I'd never seen before
One that I would like to see
But probably never will
Because it's too hot for me there in July
Is Mitama Matsuri
At Yasukuni Shrine
In Tokyo
They have walls of thousands of lanterns
In the evening
And it looks so magical
If you want to see more
There's a livestream on Only in Japan Go
Something else that's only in the summer
Is nagashi somen
You sit by a bamboo shoot
That's like a kind of gutter
With water in
They flow noodles along it to you
You have to catch them with your chopsticks to eat them
It looks really fun
But that's also only in the summer
Japan's really into seasonal things
Which I think makes them more special
So anyway
To find out what festivals are on when
Just search for: "festivals, the place you're going & the month"
So: "festivals, Tokyo, October"
And they'll all come up
There's a site called Japan Visitor .com
That has some really good lists
It's not that well known
But I really enjoyed the Kawagoe Festival
In October
It's quite close to Tokyo
I was just blown away by how many food stalls there were
There's a video about it on my channel
And if you go in October
You'll get to see lots of cute Halloween stuff
Halloween is of course western
But it's really caught on in Japan
You'll see loads of sweets & snacks
And cute characters
And photo spots
I did a video spotting them all
If you're there for Halloween itself
They have parties & parades
They look really busy
And kind of crazy
But also lots of fun
Now Christmas isn't a holiday off work in Japan
But New Years is
So if you're there over New Year
Some things might be closed for a day or two
That includes some tourist attractions
And some shops & restaurants
It's sort of a quiet time
Where people go to temples & shrines
And spend time with their family
So just watch out for that
Over New Years
Then when the shops open again
You get the chance to get fukubukuro
Or lucky bags
It's a bit like the January Sale
Where you get a lot of random items
For a cheap price
You might have seen, there's loads of videos about them
Some people go a bit crazy for them
Another special thing you can see in the winter
Is winter illuminations
They're not just for Christmas
Some of them carry on until February or March
One time I wouldn't visit Japan
Is during Golden Week
That's at the end of April, start of May
There's several bank holidays
And a lot of people tend to just take the whole week off
A bit like the Christmas holiday
That means that trains & tourist attractions
Are going to be busier than normal
Because people are going out
Going out with their friends
Travelling around
Because they're not at work
I have had messages from people who've been during Golden Week
And said it wasn't necessarily that bad
And they kidn of enjoyed the special events
That were going on
But if you don't like crowds
It's definitely a time to avoid
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Now back to the video
The next thing to consider is the weather
Now I always forget that you guys are from all different countries around the world
So you've all got different ideas
Of what sort of temperatures are comfortable
So to help other people
If you've been to Japan
Tell me in the comments what time of year it was
And what you thought of it
Most people tend to agree
That spring & autumn
Are the best times of year for weather
The summer gets really hot & humid
And really uncomfortable
Now I don't think I could cope with that
Especially walking around all day
Even the start of October
Was a bit humid for me
It made my hair go all fuzzy
This was in Kyoto right at the start of October
So what about the winter?
To me, Japan seems to have quite a short winter
October was a lot warmer than at home in the UK
I'd never be able to wear a summer dress in October in England
And spring seems to start a lot earlier as well
I'll be making a video about how cold it is in winter
I'll probably put it up a bit closer to the winter time
So look out for that
It is worth remembering
That Japan's a long country
So it spans several different climates
So up in the north
And in Hokkaido
It's going to be snowy for several months of the year
Whereas in Tokyo
It might only snow once, or not at all
And the winter's a lot milder
When you get to Kyoto & Hiroshima & Kyushu
It's going to be a few degrees warmer
And then down in Okinawa
The Hawaii of Japan
It's like summer all year round
What I do, is I check the climate charts
Just do a search for: "weather, Tokyo, July"
And it tells you the average temperatures
And on sites like Accuweather
You can see what the weather was like last year
For the dates you're thinking of
Remember that it can rain at any time of year
You can't really avoid that unfortunately
There's always a chance you'll have a rainy day or two
It actually rains a bit less in the winter
One time I would avoid
Is the rainy season
Which is mid June through July
Where it rains a lot more than average
However, the first two weeks of June
Are one of my favourite times to go
It's really warm & lovely
And it's like the height of summer in the UK
But it is a bit of a risky time
In case the rainy season starts early
Another time to watch out for
Is Typhoon Season
Which is technically June all the way through to October
The peak months are August & September
When there's a typhoon it's really rainy with strong winds
Now as I'm sure you know
Typhoons can be natural disasters
But they're not always that bad
It can just be rainy & windy
When I was in Kyoto in October
There was a typhoon headed for us
But then it diverted & went off towards Korea
And it was just rainy for a day
With typhoons
It's a bit like with earthquakes
You can't control whether they're going to happen
They either will or they won't
So if you think it's something you're going to worry about
Just don't go at that time of year
Next: crowds
Tourism to Japan has increased so much
Over the last 8 or 9 years
It's actually unbelievable
Now crowds bother some people more than others
But I just find it so much more pleasant
To be somewhere & be able to enjoy it
Without there being crowds of people everywhere
When I posted my video about Teamlab Borderless
The Digital Art Museum
A few people commented that it looked really empty
Compared to when they went
Now I went in February
So it was the winter
And I hadn't really thought about it before
But the advantage to going in the off season
Is that things are going to be a lot less crowded
So you can enjoy them a bit more
And not everything's going to be fully booked
Although the Hamtaro Theme Cafe
Was still fully booked
So I couldn't go
And I'm still very sad about that
So when is the off season in Japan?
The winter months, that's December, January & February
Are the quietest times
You'll also get some quite good prices for flights & hotels then too
The busiest times are cherry blossom season
Of course
That's late March, early April
And the autumn colours
In late October & November
Because that's when the guide books tell everyone to go
Also for 2020
Watch out for the Olympics
Because it's going to be busy at that time
Finally, prices
Now I'm no expert on how to get the cheapest flights
I wish I was
But they do vary depending on when you go
Obviously the less popular times are going to be cheaper
So if you're flexible with your dates
You can get a better deal
When I went in February
They were the cheapest flights I'd had so far
Because it was the winter
The off season
Of course we were going for the Sapporo Snow Festival
And because everybody wants to be in Sapporo at the same time for that
It meant the hotel prices
Were about 3 times as much as normal
And my best advice for times like that
Is just book as early as you can
Before the cheapest hotels are booked up
And I always get tempted by the cheaper flights at the end of April
And then I remember
It's Golden Week
Which is really busy
So don't get drawn in by them
So I hope you found that useful
Really there's good & bad things about all different times of year
So if you've already booked your trip
And I've just said it was a time you should avoid
Don't worry too much
You're going to Japan
I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time anyway
If you want to see my other Japlanning videos
They're all in a playlist on my channel
And there's new videos every Thursday
If you want to subscribe
Click the bell & it'll tell you when they're up
And if you've been to Japan
Tell me in the comments
What time of year it was
And what you thought of it
I'll see you next week
Bye bye!