Japan - weather in October

October is an autumn month in Japan, and is cool in the north, and very mild to pleasantly warm in the center-south. The rains are frequent, and in some areas even abundant.

The daily average temperature is 11/11.5 °C (52/52.5 °F) on the island of Hokkaido (see Abashiri, Sapporo).
On the island of Honshu, the average is 13.5 °C (56.5 °F) in the far north (see Aomori), 16 °C (61 °F) in Sendai, in the northeast, and 17 °C (62.5 °F) in Niigata, in the northwest. In the southeast, the average is 18.5 °C (65 °F) in Tokyo, while further west, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, it is 20 °C (68 °F) in Kobe and Osaka. In the south of the island of Kyushu (see Kagoshima), the average reaches 22 °C (71.5 °F).
On the small southern islands (see Okinawa, Ishigaki), the average temperature is higher, around 26 °C (79 °F).

As for the rains, as mentioned, they are generally frequent. The area where the rains are less frequent is the south-west, on the island of Kyushu, which more often receives cool, dry currents from Korea and the Asian continent. Rainfall, instead, is abundant on the coasts of Honshu most exposed to the south-east (see Tokyo, Yokohama, Hamamatsu), where it exceeds 200 mm (8 in) in the month.

An additional amount of rain is brought by typhoons, the tropical cyclones of the western Pacific. October is the last month in which typhoons reach Japan, and the period in which they are most likely is from August to early October. The areas most at risk are, in addition to the small southern islands, the south-facing coasts, directly on the ocean, of the islands of Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu.

In October, in central-northern Japan you can go hunting for trees (momijigari), in particular maples, which turn red. The period varies depending on the area: in Hokkaido it goes from late September to late October (but already in mid-September in the inland mountainous areas), in northern Honshu from early October to early November, in Nikko and in the area of Lake Chuzenji from early October in mid-November, while in the center-south we will have to wait until November and December.

In October, the sea in Japan is warm enough for swimming in the center-south, therefore, as well as on the small southern islands, on the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, and on the island of Honshu more or less up to Tokyo.




See also: Japan, the weather in September - November
The climate of Japan