July, August places

Hi
Will be in Japan from mid July to early August and was thinking of places that can usually only be visited from July.

Gas-san and mt Fuji as well as Rishiri-Rebun waa some thoughts.

Any other "must-sees"? Central alps? Hokkaido?

Hi, it depends on your tolerance for heat and humidity. If you are made of asbestos, from Singapore or the surface of the sun, you'd probably find most of Honshu pretty pleasant that time of year. If however you are a mere mortal like me, you'd want to focus on cooler places.

I would give Tokyo and Kyoto a definite miss (Kyoto in particular is awful in the heat) and in central Honshu look at the Alps, eg Kamikotchi, Karuizawa, Nikko, Hakone, Fuji areas. I havent done anything north past Nikko so I cant comment about that sorry. Bear in mind though that these places are popular amongst the locals in hotter months, so weekends in particular might be busy.

July only events or places to visit really just include beaches, pools, summer vacation stuff etc. Would be no different to anyones home country.

If you are looking for things you can do in summer that you cannot do in winter. Then that opens up many possibilities. Kamikochi and Kurobe Gorge come to mind first up. Hokkaido has many hikes and lakes you just wouldn't visit in winter etc.

If you're into mountain climbing or hiking there are a lot of places you can visit in the Summer. And no, you don't need to be made of asbestos or from Singapore. Just be from any place that gets hot and humid in the Summer and not everyone has AC and you'll be fine. I generally go June-July, but more because once you get into August the Japanese start getting their own holidays.

You could climb Haku-san (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4285.html ) near Kanazawa, do the Tateyama Alpine Route, see all the sunflower and lavender fields in various locations, I think there was a whole article about adventuring in Gunma-ken over the Summer on this website (someone pointed me to it!) There are National Parks like Oze (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7440.html) There is more hiking in the Bandai-Azuma area (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7755.html) Osorezan is pretty amazing (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3727.html) I liked Towadako and Hirosaki. The Hakkoda Mountains offer lots of hiking and onsen or spend time in Hachmintai Park. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3654.html

Lots of places in Tohoku have huge festivals like Nebuta in Aomori. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3755.html

Good luck and enjoy!

Consider summer activities such as rafting. There was a great article on this website recently about Gunma, and white water rafting and caving with this company: https://canyons.jp/en/

No one's suggested the beaches of the Okinawan islands, or the flowery fields of Hokkaido yet....

I sort of did... I didn't specifically mention Hokkaido because it depends on their itinerary and budget where they are going to go, but the big July-August flower viewing is lavender and sunflowers. My daughter and I are very fond of flower viewing and flower photography, so I am always looking out for gardens and what are the big types of flowers visible. Someday I shall have to take her to Japan in Spring for sakura. We live in an area where people in the US travel for koyo so it's a bit less exciting. (We're currently trying to figure out how to make it to Alwnick to see the Poison Garden and trying to figure out if roses will be in bloom.)

Gunma also has a huge lavender field and I'm pretty sure some other parks closer to Tokyo do as well. I can't remember where the sunflower fields are, but they're supposed to be beautiful. Since we go early in the Summer we're irises (sometimes we miss them) and hydrangea. Depending on how late OP stays in August and the variety sometimes hydrangea will be in bloom at the end of August. The same can be true of some varieties of iris.

I believe this is the 3 day report on Summer fun in Gunma https://www.japan-guide.com/ad/gunma-adventure/

It's definitely Summer because of the Sunflowers and lavender.

Enjoy!