No one does winter quite like the Japanese, who have a keen awareness of the changing seasons, known as kisetsukan. And one of the best strategies to avoid the crowds of autumn color changes and spring cherry blossoms is to visit in the off-season, between late November and mid-March.
The traditional Japanese calendar has four major seasons and 72 micro seasons, each of which lasts only five days and has a specific set of traditions and celebrations. Pro tip, though: Skip Japan if you’re looking for New Year’s Eve revelry. This is a quiet family holiday in Japan, and many places shut down.
Winter is also one of the driest periods in Japan. That means blue skies across most of the country, creating a clearer view of Mount Fuji from Tokyo. Hotel prices drop alongside the temperatures as well, apart from hotels at ski resorts and during the Lunar New Year period.
It’s no secret that Japan has been experiencing overtourism: It had 24 million overseas visitors during the first eight months of 2024. These reasons for coming to Japan in the off-season reveal that winter can be one of the best times to visit.
1. Onsen-hopping
Winter is perfect for lounging in one of the country’s more than 3,000 registered onsen resorts. Film-buffs will love Dogo Onsen, the county’s oldest, which was the inspiration for the bathhouse in Hayao Miyazaki’s anime classic Spirited Away.
Kyushu’s Kurokawa Onsen features a cave onsen and rotemburos (outdoor baths), and Hokkaido’s open-air Takaragawa Onsen offers spectacular river views. Brush up on onsen etiquette. Donning your birthday suit and showering before soaking, for example, are mandatory.
And if you want a unique sight, stop by the Jigokudani Monkey Park to see wild Japanese macaques having their own onsen moment. Call ahead to the visitor center to see if the monkeys are around before visiting.
Kenrokuen Garden is one of Japan’s many gardens that shine in the winter.
Photo by Alec Gibson/Shutterstock
2. Beautiful gardens
Japan’s manicured green spaces are more than worth a stroll even in winter, including Tokyo’s Kiyosumi Garden, known for evergreen trees and serene icy ponds, and Kyu Shibarikyu Garden, a 100-year-old urban oasis with winter-blooming apricot trees.
Kanazawa’s Kenrokuen Garden, renowned as one of the three most beautiful in the country, turns into a winter wonderland when yukitsuri (lighted, conical structures made of rope resembling minimalistic Christmas trees) are built on top of trees to protect foliage from heavy snowfall from November to March. This tradition of snow suspension dates to the Edo Period (1603–1867) and is often used in the central prefectures of Toyama, Ishikawa, and Fukui.
Walk along the Kumano Kodo in the winter for a chillier, more pensive experience.
Photo by Peter Bohler
3. Ancient trails to hike
While the Japanese Alps will be blanketed in snow in the colder months, lower latitude and lower altitude hikes can be more pleasant during this time than during the steamy summer months.
Yakushima Island, located 37 miles south from the southern tip of Kyushu Island, is home to a primeval temperate rainforest with thousand-year-old cedar trees, known as yakusugi. The mossy, mountainous paradise is a UNESCO World Heritage site characterized by year-round rainfall—so pack those waterproof layers.
Originally tread by the imperial elite, the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route is a multi-day trek across the Kii Mountains that connects three grand shrines in Wakayama Prefecture. Plan to overnight near Yunomine Onsen, one of the country’s oldest onsen, to soak your tired soles in the steaming spring waters.
Hit Niseko’s ski slopes, then warm up with some soba noodles at places like Teuchi-Soba Ichimura.
Photos by Jessie Beck
4. The powdery slopes
Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture, is synonymous with light powdery snow that attracts snowboarders and skiers. The most convenient slopes to the regional capital are located in Sapporo Teine, the site of the 1972 Winter Olympics. An average snowfall of 49 feet has made Niseko Japan’s most famous (and priciest!) ski resort town. Next door, Rusutu is known for tree runs and ski-in, ski-out lodges.
For a memorable sight, visit the snow monsters of Zao in northern Honshu. Cold air from Siberia transforms the trees along the mountain’s slopes into snowy ice giants. Though the phenomenon starts in December, the monsters peak in size in mid-February and are illuminated nightly for tours.
Yuki Matsuri, also known as the Sapporo Snow Festival, occurs in February.
Photo by 7maru/Shutterstock
5. Seasonal celebrations
Japanese festivals, an integral aspect of the islands’ culture, often revolve around celebrating and appreciating nature and seasonal changes. Sapporo’s Yuki Matsuri boasts an international snow sculpture contest, ice slides, and frozen mazes for kids while the Hirosaki Castle Snow Lantern Festival transforms the castle grounds into a snowy oasis lined with hundreds of snow lanterns and igloos. March brings the Omizutori Fire Festival to Nara, where monks run with torches every day for the first two weeks of the month. Book hotels in advance.
Warm up in the winter with a trip to the Sapporo Beer Museum.
Photo by Jo Panuwat D/Shutterstock
6. Museums galore
To escape the elements, step inside one of Japan’s zen-like museums where silence is revered. The Adachi Museum of Art’s vast collection of 20th-century Japanese art shouldn’t be missed. Located outside of Matsue, the countryside museum houses the private art collection of businessman Adachi Zenkō and features large-scale paintings by contemporary artists and a gallery devoted to famed painter Yokoyama Taikan. The museum’s picturesque viewing garden has been ranked number one in the country for 21 consecutive years. For a dive into the interesting and often quirky history of Japan’s modern novelties, stop by the Sapporo Beer Museum, Yokohama’s Cup Noodles Museum, and the TOTO Toilet Museum in Kitakyushu.
