Japan Climate Patterns

Japan's long north-south stretch gives it real climate variation -- Hokkaidō in the north has cold, snowy winters, while Okinawa in the far south stays subtropical year-round.

Most of the country has four distinct seasons -- a rainy season (tsuyu) in June, a hot summer, a mild autumn, and a cold but generally dry winter. Typhoon season, June through October, most heavily affects the southern islands.

Coastal areas facing the Sea of Japan receive some of the heaviest snowfall anywhere on Earth in winter -- the same phenomenon that makes Japan's ski resorts famous for exceptionally light powder.