Will visiting Japan over Labor Day (~Sep 1) be miserably hot?
 

Thinking of taking that long Labor Day weekend to make an enjoyable trip to Japan (and also related to my search for cheap fares, mentioned elsewhere) -- but... will the weather, temp, humidity all over Japan be unbearably hot and unpleasant around that time? Is it already? Could heading north be the answer, or even there it's hot?

It wasn't when I left Sunday, July 14 but, I was reminded that it's unusually cooler this summer.
Sept is over a month out so I'd think it'd be warmer, at least near the beginning.

My thought is farther north is cooler but I've read places like Hokkaido has more rainfall then.

Early September can still be quite hot, but generally not as bad as July-Aug. Northern Japan or higher altitudes (e.g. Hakone / Nikko) will be cooler. There's no significant difference in rainfall between northern Japan and Tokyo at that time of year. (The rain divide is along the center of the country - with the Sea of Japan coast getting more much more rain than the Pacific coast). If anything, the further north you go, the less likely you are to encounter a typhoon, which can hit at that time of year - usually approaching Japan from the south / west.

I'll be in Japan then and plan to spend most of my trip in Northern Hokkaido to avoid the worst of the heat. It can definitely be hot then!

Given a choice, that is what I'd do as well. I enjoy Hokkaido very much and it will definitely be cooler. For only a short visit of a few days, there is more than enough to see and do for a wonderful visit.

This has been the most pleasant July weather-wise in recent memory. Part of it is that the tsuyuake (end of rainy season) is running late this year, and it usually gets super hot and muggy after tsuyuake. But even accounting for that, it has been quite mild thus far.

I'd imagine that early Sept will be a different story, though. Hokkaido will certainly be much more likely to be less hot, although it can also get quite hot up here also.

In my opinion Tokyo's weather is similar to Atlanta. It can be hot labor day, but not miserably hot. I was in the Tokyo area on Labor day a few years ago. It was tolerable, and much preferable to a time I was there in July.

Just as an aside, Japan's Labor Day ("Labour Thanksgiving Day") is on November 23rd.
September 1st is Disaster Prevention Day. You'll see people in hard hats rolling out fire hoses outside buildings and doing other drills.

Tokyo could be very hot and uncomfortable in early September. Or it might not be... :rolleyes:

Aside from a few days, this is been the coolest summer I've experienced in Japan and I've been here on and off for 25 years. But as of yesterday, the temps have started climbing and the humidity is getting pretty bad. I agree that Sept. is not August, which is the worst of the heat, but unlike a few more optimistic folks above, I would just expect it to be horribly hot and feel lucky if it's otherwise.

I'm not kidding when I say that me and the missus have talked about going back to Japan this September. We've been seeing airfare deals pop up and right now, it feels like 104 degrees at 1pm here and it's not even August. Between the muggy crap here and wanting to go back to Japan anyway, it looks like we are headed back maybe for a week to 10 days this time.

We are debating Tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka. We need to escape and what better places. I'm not ready to try Hokkaido....yet.

That's pretty cool. If you loved Jpn, why wait another year to go back when you have the itch and wherewithal to head back right away? Heading right back to the same far-off vacation spot immediately upon return because you enjoyed it so much... would be a great Travelbuzz thread.

Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka will all be equally likelihood of being hot and muggy or relatively mild on the other hand in Sept. You have to consider typhoons in Sept, but that's really a bit of a crapshoot. I'm not a typhoon expert, but I think I would avoid Kyushu and western Jpn in particular if you're worried about typhoon. Honestly Hokkaido would really be a good place to consider if visiting in Sept, although typhoons occasionally hit Hokkaido also.

Right. While I was in Tokyo, I saw Kyushu was having massive rain and flooding so if it's possibly worse in Sept with typhoons, I'm not even chancing it there.

Japan typhoon season looks close to our hurricane season in timing.

While I was in Atlantis last year, Harvey was tearing up Houston, TX and then Irma and Jose came through just after I flew back home.

Do typhoons affect Tokyo and Osaka really bad?