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Japan climate by month: Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka and Naha compared
Compare Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka and Naha for your itinerary using the 2001-2025 NASA POWER monthly series below, alongside Japan Meteorological Agency regional guidance.
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Climate reference locations
These markers show locations with historical climate estimates for the surrounding area. Choose a location to see its climate table.
Dot: one place · Number: multiple places
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Map data: Natural Earth
Location coordinates: Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka, Naha (Wikidata, CC0).
How the four reference points diverge across the year
In the 2001-2025 NASA POWER series, January mean temperatures span more than 25 degrees from -6.9 °C in Sapporo to 4.7 °C in Tokyo, 2.6 °C in Osaka and 18.9 °C in Naha.
Summer narrows the temperature gap (July means of 18.8 °C in Sapporo, 25.5 °C in Tokyo, 25.1 °C in Osaka and 28.8 °C in Naha), while higher monthly precipitation shifts between early-summer and autumn months along the Pacific corridor.
- Spring (April): Tokyo (13.5 °C, 4.5 mm/day) and Osaka (12.1 °C, 4.5 mm/day) warm much earlier than Sapporo (3.5 °C, 2.1 mm/day).
- Autumn (October): Sapporo cools to a 9.2 °C mean while Tokyo (18.1 °C) and Osaka (16.3 °C) remain mild and Naha stays at 26.2 °C.
- Winter (December-February): Pacific Honshu points show their lowest precipitation means (Tokyo 2.6-2.7 mm/day in Dec-Jan), while Hokkaido stays below freezing.
Sources: General Information on Climate of Japan, Tables of Climatological Normals 1991-2020
Compare the stops on your route
Compare months within each point first, then compare the same month between points. Choose dates around your own route and activities. The table does not assign a universal best travel month to Japan.
Use the comparison for trip planning
- Check which named point is relevant to the stops on your actual route.
- Compare warmer and cooler months with your planned activities. A monthly mean includes both day and night.
- Keep alternatives for weather-dependent plans and check a local forecast close to departure.
- Do not infer rain hours, rainy-day counts or severe-weather risk from millimetres per day.
Source and processing
NASA POWER climatology, 2001-2025. The values are T2M (mean air temperature at two metres, °C) and PRECTOTCORR (mean corrected precipitation, mm/day). City coordinates come from Wikidata. Selection, month extraction, translation, rounding and table arrangement are changes to the original data. NASA POWER data licence: CC BY 4.0. Coordinates: CC0.
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Climate by month
These historical gridded estimates describe the area around each coordinate. They are not a forecast for a particular trip. Precipitation in millimetres per day is not a count of rainy days.
Sapporo
Reference period 2001-2025 · Coordinates (latitude, longitude) 43.0619°, 141.3544°
| Month | Mean air temperature at 2 m (°C) | Mean precipitation (mm/day) |
|---|---|---|
| January | -6.9 | 3.3 |
| February | -6.7 | 3 |
| March | -2.9 | 2.3 |
| April | 3.5 | 2.1 |
| May | 10 | 2.4 |
| June | 14.9 | 2.8 |
| July | 18.8 | 3.9 |
| August | 20 | 5.2 |
| September | 16 | 4.6 |
| October | 9.2 | 3.8 |
| November | 2.1 | 4.3 |
| December | -4.6 | 4.2 |
Tokyo
Reference period 2001-2025 · Coordinates (latitude, longitude) 35.6894°, 139.6917°
| Month | Mean air temperature at 2 m (°C) | Mean precipitation (mm/day) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 4.7 | 2.6 |
| February | 5.6 | 2.6 |
| March | 8.8 | 4 |
| April | 13.5 | 4.5 |
| May | 18.2 | 4.8 |
| June | 21.8 | 6.2 |
| July | 25.5 | 4.9 |
| August | 26.9 | 4.3 |
| September | 23.6 | 7 |
| October | 18.1 | 7.9 |
| November | 12.7 | 4 |
| December | 7.3 | 2.7 |
Osaka
Reference period 2001-2025 · Coordinates (latitude, longitude) 34.6938°, 135.5021°
| Month | Mean air temperature at 2 m (°C) | Mean precipitation (mm/day) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 2.6 | 2.1 |
| February | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| March | 6.8 | 3.7 |
| April | 12.1 | 4.5 |
| May | 17.1 | 5.1 |
| June | 21.1 | 7.1 |
| July | 25.1 | 7.1 |
| August | 25.9 | 5.7 |
| September | 22.3 | 7.5 |
| October | 16.3 | 6.2 |
| November | 10.6 | 3.1 |
| December | 5 | 2.5 |
Naha
Reference period 2001-2025 · Coordinates (latitude, longitude) 26.2122°, 127.6792°
| Month | Mean air temperature at 2 m (°C) | Mean precipitation (mm/day) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 18.9 | 2 |
| February | 19 | 1.8 |
| March | 19.8 | 2.6 |
| April | 21.8 | 4.1 |
| May | 24.5 | 6.7 |
| June | 27 | 9.8 |
| July | 28.8 | 4 |
| August | 29 | 5.6 |
| September | 28.2 | 6.2 |
| October | 26.2 | 4.1 |
| November | 23.6 | 2.8 |
| December | 20.6 | 2.2 |
Sources
- General Information on Climate of Japan (Japan Meteorological Agency). Accessed
- Tables of Climatological Normals 1991-2020 (Japan Meteorological Agency). Accessed
- NASA POWER Climatology API (NASA POWER). Accessed
- NASA POWER temporal data processing (NASA POWER). Accessed
- NASA POWER dataset and data licence (NASA / Registry of Open Data on AWS). Accessed
- Wikidata structured-data licensing (Wikimedia). Accessed
- Sapporo coordinate record (Wikidata). Accessed
- Tokyo coordinate record (Wikidata). Accessed
- Osaka coordinate record (Wikidata). Accessed
- Naha coordinate record (Wikidata). Accessed