January-February

Had to postpone my travel in Nov-December due to family illness. Apparently found an offer on air tickets to Japan in mid-late January to early-mid February so trying to decide when would be best to go.

Since I never been to Japan in winter I would want to try out onsen in winter snow, possibly also seeing the snow monsters of Zao. I was thinking of going to Sapporo to see the snow festival but when I tried that approach several years ago I found it would be too crowded and hotels booked out long ago.

Ginzan onsen, Kinosaki onsen or Zao onsen are some ideas in mind. Since I heard Kinosaki onsen accepts people with tattoos as well (not sure about the other).

I would like however to visit Okinawa once again or perhaps Miyako-jima (since I been to Ishigaki) while there are possibly less people there.

I guess hiking in the mountains is out in mainland Japan.

Temperature and crowd-wise, is there any difference going in mid to late January?