#33 Travelling to Japan in winter?
Collection of tips for travelling to Japan in winter.
Now that November is nearly over, you must have started thinking about your next winter trip to Japan. What do you expect for your next trip to Japan? Wherever you are coming from, highlights you have in your mind can be snow plus something more. You may take great advantage of the current foreign exchange rate and make your first visit to Japan after the pandemic. This week, I’d like to write about possible highlights of your next visit to Japan.
Cherry blossoms, new greens, and autumn leaves may be listed as a major Japanese tourist attraction if you look from the point of nature. On the contrary, winter may sound quiet and slow season for oversea visitors. But in other words, winter is also the optimum season for heart-to-heart travel with local Japanese people, with fewer tourists if you make some additional preparations.
Now I will divide Japan’s five regions and write the approach when you start planning for this winter. I will be happy to receive your comments. There should be various approaches, but these are my personal views.
Hokkaido and Tohoku
You have to prepare for low temperatures and the unreliability of public transport. But you will be guaranteed tranquillity unless you go to famous winter events such as the Sapporo Snow Festival. In general, this season in northern Japan, bad weather and other factors make it difficult to make the type of journeys that take you around the country. If I were you, I’d rather choose one or two places and stay in the same place for a couple of days. This form of travel may result in a series of nights in a hot spring hotel, but it may enrich your time and allow you to face your inner self.
Regarding Sapporo Snow Festival, you have to prepare well in advance since this is a very popular event even among Japanese people. Especially 2023 event will be held for the first time in three years due to the pandemic.
Tokyo Metropolitan Area
The weather pattern in Tokyo metropolitan area in winter is very stable and dried, and you have much less chance of rain. This weather pattern will continue until the end of February. But there is an exception, snow is more likely to fall when low-pressure systems pass over the southern seas. When you have this weather, it becomes the substantial snow falls, public transport will be stranded badly. In addition, please avoid New Year’s Day since most of the shops are closed until the 3rd of January. Northerly winds are cold and sometimes strong, but you can make planning for most of the tourist attractions.
Tokyo Suburb and Kanto Plain
Most tourist attractions seem to be located outskirts of Kanto Plain. Nikko, Nasu and Kusatsu are typical places where I even plan for a weekend trip. In my case, I always choose a spa resort with hot spring water of my preferred quality. I tend to end up with Kusatsu and Nasu where I can enjoy sulfur springs.
Kyoto and Osaka
The temperature drops in the middle of winter, especially in Kyoto. But winter is less crowded if you compare it with other seasons. And definitely, winter is more comfortable than humid hot summer. Since the number of visitors is recovering in Kyoto, winter is one of the choices. If you are a foodie, you’ll combine Osaka with Kyoto. So winter is one of the choices to enjoy a quieter Kyoto. The distance between both cities is very short and you can make it within one hour by train.
Kyushu
You may think that Kyusyu is warmer than any other part of Japan. That’s true in a way, but if you compare the winter temperature in northern Kyusyu, it is not as warm as you expect. It is simply because northern Kyusyu is affected by winds from the north. So please be prepared for the rare low temperatures, even in the southern part of Japan, such as in Kyushu.
As I have already written that I can't help but love hot springs, I will list two hot springs that I strongly recommend. According to the 100 best hot springs in Japan selected by a tourism trade publication, Kusatsu Onsen and Beppu Onsen have consistently been among the top three most highly rated hot springs in recent years and are the highest-rated hot springs in Japan, both in name and reality.
I strongly recommend these two places to consider when it comes to winter destinations for travelling. For Beppu, the city is next to the prefectural capital of Oita. For Kusatsu, Kusatsu Onsen has very easy access by JR Kanto bus services.
Kusatsu Onsen is located in the north of Gunma Prefecture and this hot spring is famous for the quality of hot spring water. A well-known skiing field is another bonus for powder snow lovers. Distinguish points of hot spring water are high temperature and high acidity (ph2. 1) which work well for a wide range of ailments. This hot spring water was said to be effective for the inactivation of new coronaviruses. You have to be careful not to take a bath more than three times a day and you have to make it not too long due to the high acidity. The best access from Tokyo is the highway bus run by JR Bus Kanto and it takes four hours from Shinjuku. Kusatsu Onsen is a suitable place for the weekend.
A yubatake is a facility where hot spring water is poured over the surface of the ground or into a wooden gutter to collect hot spring flowers, a component of hot springs, and to regulate the temperature of the water. Beppu Onsen
Beppu Onsen is a place that offers a hot spring experience like never before. The total volume of Beppu Onsen springs reaches 83,058 kilolitres per day. The number of sources is more than 2,200, which accounts for about 10% of the total number in Japan. In other words, Beppu Onsen is the largest hot spring in Japan in terms of both volume and number of sources. Beppu Onsen offers a variety of hot springs in number and quality and offers gourmet and sand steaming. There is a video clip which is a rare example of a scientific approach that goes beyond mere tourist information and explains the origins of Beppu in an easy-to-understand way.
You can see steam from hot springs at every place in Beppu Onsen. I am a big fan of Beppu Onsen as an onsen freak. There are so many local public baths, and they have all kinds of different qualities. I don’t think that I am bored in a week. There are so many attractions in Beppu Onsen, and I strongly recommend the following two places. One is the beach sand bath, and the other is the muddy hot spring.
Takegawara Onsen is one of the iconic hot springs in Beppu. It was built in 1879 and has sand bathes inside the building. You may be reluctant to travel to Japan in winter if you visit for the first time. But it may be the best season to find the real faces of the country for the repeaters.
Visiting an onsen is the #1 thing on my list to do when I visit Japan - I imagine that in the winter, they feel even more refreshing and restorative :)