Solo traveler in August

Hi Everyone,

I'm having a holiday of 3 weeks starting from the 3rd of August until 23. Would like to visit Japan for a second time but this time for only 2 weeks and as a solo traveler.

My major concern is the time of course. My first wonderful trip was in Autumn (November 17) but now it's on the Summer where it's hot and humid.

I don't like the heat but would adopt to it if there's no high humid!

So my questions are:

1- Is it too humid so that I'll be uncomfortable much of the time?
2- Is it too days of rain so my plan could be affected?
3- Because of the Japanese summer holiday would the trains and tourist spots be too crowded?

I know that no one can predict the weather but can get some hints from people who're being in Japan right now or been there in August before.

My plan would be to start from Kansai Region to Tokyo Through Takayama/Shirakawago. (Kix my landing airport and Hanida is my take off airport).

Thank you and looking forward for any advise.

Hi!

Is it going to be hot and humid in Japan in August? The answer is most emphatically yes. How hard you take the humidity depends on you but it is going to be humid. I've been in Tokyo and Nikko and August and it was humid and hot. I was just in Kansai in June this year and it was super sunny and hot and humid and my daughter complained constantly. I've been to Takayama in June and it was hot, not super humid but still really really hot, hot enough that it didn't matter that there wasn't a lot of humidity.

August tends to be after rainy season. It can rain, but I wouldn't worry so much about it. Honestly the rain is a blessing because it cools you down.

Yes, lots of things are crowded because it's holidays.

Personally, if it were me, I would go to Hokkaido or Tohoku. Good luck!

I have visited Japan in all seasons, summer, especially AUG, is the worse weather-wise.
If you can not stand heat and humidity, you might want to try to reschedule your trip at a different month.

It is 25th July and the OP will start the trip on 3rd Aug, so I guess it will be hard to change the flight (without huge cancelation fee of course). Yes August is hot and humid, but at the same time it is the traveling season for many locals, so I would post a possible way of travel.

Aug 3 Land at KIX and move to Kyoto. 4 nights there. There are still some hostels available.
Aug 7 Fly to Sapporo. ANA or JAL's promotional fare is around 105 USD. Later than this date it will go up.
Aug 7 to 19 Hokkaido. Though Hokkaido in these dates is the peak traveling season and the OP might have to struggle to find affordable accommodations, there still should be some places. I recommend to go north to Wakkanai, Rishiri and Rebun though it is almost impossible to find an accommodation in Rebun on 13th to 16th (the most popular place on the peak of the peak days). I believe there are some in Wakkanai and surroundings.
Aug 19 Fly from Wakkanai to Tokyo's Haneda.

In any case the OP should fix the itinerary and book accommodations as soon as possible. It's the peak season. Enjoy your trip!

If heat with humidity isnft your thing most of Japan in August isnft your thing. I personally in July & August can hardly spend more than 15 min outside without being totally soaked in sweat.

As a PP said, the only place where the weather is going to be okay is Hokkaido and potentially the northern part of Tohoku.

I went to Hokkaido in mid July and in an other year in the first week of September and both times it was really nice summer weather. Summer like it used to be in Central Europe. (Not the Heat Wave we are having right now).

Last year I went for a long weekend in mid August to Tohoku (Shinjo, Ginzan onsen, Kakunodate, Tazawako and Hachimantai) and that was great too.

So if you canft reschedule to mid September or later and canft cope with humid heat then get on a domestic flight right away to any place in Hokkaido. Travel for approx 2 weeks through hook and then a week through northern Tohoku. I am saying northern Tohoku, because places like Sendai also are in Tohoku but not so much cooler in summer than Tokyo.

Note that specially Kyoto is known for its soaring heat.

There are places in Kansai as well to escape the worst of the heat. Eg last year I was in Osaka the first week of August (for work, extremely hot, and walking 5 min to work was okay anything else would have been torture) so on the weekend we went to Dorogawa onsen in Wakayama Prefecture. There at least on the first day it was notably cooler and i could do outside activities all day. However already on the second day even there it got hot after about 11 am. Luckily that day we needed to leave yo get to Tokyo. (Air conditioning is such a blessing). So while you could go to places such as Dorogawa onsen, Nikko, Karuizawa... that are a bit cooler , spending there 3 weeks is going to be more complicated than just doing a trip to Hokkaido and Northern Tohoku where the weather will be okay.

I just checked in my weather app gtenki.jph and while the temperature on gpaperh doesnft sound very different between Sapporo (max 29, min 21) vs Kyoto (Max 33 , min 26) these 4 degree, the lower humidity and the cooler night makes it that while at Kyoto the heat stroke risk is at maximum (getting alerts from the app right now for Tokyo as well), in Sapporo the respective icon is at about 60% only.

And for your next trip to Japan, come in April/May or late Sep to mid November

Enjoy your trip to Japan!