For August visitors.

Obon is gift giving season when many Japanese people gather up their families and return to the area they grew up in to spend time with their parents. Often the visit will involve seeing aunts, uncles, nephews etc.. Not only will gifts be brought for the family, gifts may also be purchased to hand to work colleagues on the return. The larger shops have aisles full of corporate type gift packages at this time, they often take the form of themed hampers.

And then the gift giving season ends. Abruptly.

We were travelling around Japan during the middle of August and found these “hampers” at stores (Aeon Supermarkets had a big range) at massive discounts - commonly between 50% and 80%. Consume by dates ran into mid 2024 and beyond.

A terrific source for unexpected bargains, one that I was completely unaware of before this visit. I had to be creative with some tape and string in order to make a giant box of jellied fruit desserts fit into one of our suitcases but we got it home and am looking forward to trying all the different varieties this Christmas in London.

You heard wrong, in 21 years I have never seen or heard of this, it would be counter to the service culture.

There was another thread on here that linked to another site where they claimed this to be true -- most likely an out of date menu / non-translated table fee / etc... I've never seen it either -- but it is true that many English menus are out of date at certain places and over the past few years there have been some decent price increases (mostly warranted) -- so I could see how it happens -- but agree I've not experienced this...

For summer visitors (Mid May to Mid September) -- the temperature /humidity here is something so far beyond what can be explained....

As someone that has lived here for 15 years we returned after being away for four months in NYC (our other home) -- as we find the summers challenging here lol... In some insane fit of stupidity after arriving last night casued by: Ultra long-flight induced craziness / thinking we are the athletes we used to be / couldn't sleep any more / likely just dumb -- we decided to fight our jetlag by playing tennis for three hours in 33 degree weather on a cloudy day from 9-12 with our tennis club -- I still got a massive sunburn and my wife almost had heat stroke -- we both drank 8 pints of water and 2 Pocari sweats -- and it was still unbearable.

The heat and humidity here in the summer is way more severe than most people expect -- plan accordingly!

The hot summer weather doesn't start until mid-July, when rainy season ends. Mid-May is generally very nice, sunny days, not muggy, cools off at night. Rainy season starts early to mid-June, but even then the days are not blazing hot and muggy. Once summer hits, it's hot and muggy, and that typically lasts until mid-September. This year it's been forecast to go until end of September.

We left this year in early May and it was already so hot and humid (compared to western standards) -- summer in the west is just so much more livable to us.... I think mid July is a bit of a stretch for the "hot" Japanese weather in Tokyo -- we've had plenty of miserable June's here -- but this year was hotter than usual...

Wow. I'm a Seattle guy, though have lived in Japan for a long time. May to me is one of the top 3 weather months of the year. Maybe things are different in Kansai than Tokyo. But as long as I've lived here, the end of rainy season is when the temperature and humidity both take a sudden jump, and true miserable conditions set in. Maybe I just camp out underneath the aircon! :-)

Or maybe we are just old lol... My wife and I visited family in Western Japan in May and it was much more enjoyable -- returning to Tokyo was awful - one big blacktop jungle. The worst part of the day is sunset when the winds go down and the heat goes up....

Personally, I found August pleasurable by embarking on most of my outdoor sightseeing expeditions at dawn and keeping to mainly indoor activities after 11am or so right up until dusk. Mosquito repellent became a permanent addition to my handbag.
I was trained at a young age on how to cope: Siestas. Coffee is also required.

We found Sendai to be more difficult, with relation to the heat, than Tokyo.

We went a few times to a kids’ facility that allows children from the area to charge around without heatstroke close to the Azabu Tennis Courts, never saw anyone playing on any of them.

Mid Ocrober weather more temperate?

Yes, mid-October is usually quite nice. Few rainy days, if any, warm sunny days and cooler nights. The summer-like weather this year has been forecast to end by end of September.

I don't know where to post this, but I really have to thank LapLap and bmwe92fan for steering me to Mont Thabor. Oh my lord, the Hokkaido Milk bread is amazing!!! I was busy with some work at the hotel and didn't get there until 8 PM. Unfortunately, the bakery looked like it was winding down for the day. No more fresh baked goods. I can only imagine how it would taste fresh out of the oven. It was still worth the effort and I wish more visitors go there and try it. I'm now officially hooked. Thanks guys!

Ok, when I'm there next, will have to try it too!

Go there earlier and you won't regret it. I don't even know the words to describe the bread. Just put it in your mouth and let it all soak in!

SO glad you love it -- the way we found it was just walking back from tennis and we wandered in and life was changed.... LapLap has probably been going much longer!