Japan in October: climate comparison across Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka and Naha

What the October point spread means for an autumn itinerary

October marks a crisp autumn transition in northern Japan while central Honshu remains mild and Okinawa stays warm: in the 2001-2025 series, mean temperature stands at 9.2 °C in Sapporo, 18.1 °C in Tokyo, 16.3 °C in Osaka and 26.2 °C in Naha.

Mean October precipitation ranges from 3.8 mm/day in Sapporo and 4.1 mm/day in Naha to 6.2 mm/day in Osaka and 7.9 mm/day in Tokyo, reflecting early-autumn frontal and late-season tropical systems along the Pacific coast.

• Pack warm mid-layers and a jacket if your October route includes Hokkaido (Sapporo 9.2 °C mean) or high mountain valleys.
• In Tokyo (18.1 °C, 7.9 mm/day) and Osaka/Kyoto (16.3 °C, 6.2 mm/day), pair outdoor temple gardens with indoor museum and covered shopping-arcade backups.
• Check the local weather report and rail operator notices before long Shinkansen hops if a late-season low-pressure system approaches.

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Sources: General Information on Climate of Japan, Tables of Climatological Normals 1991-2020

Read the local month comparison

Across the selected points, mean monthly temperature ranges from 9.2 to 26.2 °C. Mean precipitation ranges from 3.8 to 7.9 mm per day. Those ranges describe this selected point comparison, not every destination in Japan.

Use the comparison for trip planning

• Check which named point is relevant to the stops on your actual route.
• Use mean temperature as background for planning your activities. A monthly mean includes both daytime and night-time conditions.
• 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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Selected coordinates

• Sapporo
• Tokyo
• Osaka
• Naha

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