Japan in July
Hot and humid. The big summer festivals run now. Gion Matsuri fills Kyoto all month. Brutal in the south, ideal in Hokkaido. The rains lift around July 20. Then the heat settles in. Kyoto fills up around the 17th and the 24th. Those are the two Gion Matsuri parades.
Temperature
30°C (86°F) / 22°C (72°F)
in Tokyo, afternoon and night
Crowds
quiet
across the cities we track (checked Oct 16)
Ryokan booking
not open yet
traditional inns · from Dec 27
Japan weather in July, north to south
| City | Afternoon / night | Rain or snow |
|---|---|---|
| Sapporo north (Hokkaido) | 25°C (77°F) / 18°C (64°F) | little rain 91 mm, one day in 4 |
| Tokyo central (Kanto) | 30°C (86°F) / 22°C (72°F) | very wet 156 mm, one day in 3 |
| Kyoto central (Kansai) | 32°C (90°F) / 24°C (75°F) | very wet 224 mm, one day in 3 |
| Osaka central (Kansai) | 32°C (90°F) / 25°C (77°F) | very wet 174 mm, one day in 3 |
| Naha far south (Okinawa) | 32°C (90°F) / 27°C (81°F) | very wet 188 mm, one day in 3 |
The rainy season ends around July 19, in Kansai as around Tokyo. The typhoons take over: 2.1 typhoons approach Japan on average over the month. See “The rain comes in two waves” in the month-by-month overview
Thirty-year averages (1991-2020) recorded by the Japan Meteorological Agency, which tell you the month's usual climate and not the weather you will actually get on the dates you have chosen. Last checked August 8, 2026.
Roughly what it costs
Occupancy (official statistics, 2023-2025)
busy
61%
Price range per night
per night, two people
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The dates in July
July 2027 has one public holiday and 2 dates when something is happening, and the night before that holiday is the most expensive of the month: ryokan charge their Saturday rate for it.
Hakata Gion Yamakasa, Fukuoka
Shoulder-carried floats are run across Fukuoka early on the morning of the 15th, the last day of the festival.
Fukuoka fills up
July sumo tournament (Nagoya-basho), Nagoya
Fifteen days at the Dolphins Arena in Nagoya. Tickets go a month ahead, the weekend dates first.
Nagoya fills up
Public holiday: Marine Day
For many families this traditionally marks the start of the school summer holidays.
everything fills up
quiet
nothing to plan around
If your dates can move: shift by a day to miss the nights before a holiday, once booking opens.
If they are fixed: those nights will be the first to go on the day booking opens. The rest of the month can wait.
Where to start
The order matters more than how early you get to it.
Kyoto and the small stops first
Kyoto, Kanazawa, Takayama, and any night in a ryokan: few rooms, and the whole of Japan is aiming at the same dates, so this is where rooms run out first, not in Tokyo.
Tokyo and Osaka can wait
Tens of thousands of rooms. These cities are never really full. The simplest approach is still to book it all in one go, on free cancellation rates for whatever might still move.
Three questions about July
Is July hot in Japan?
In Tokyo, 30°C (86°F) in the afternoon and 22°C (72°F) at night on average, while at the same moment Sapporo sits at 25°C (77°F) and Naha at 32°C (90°F). The rainy season ends around July 19, in Kansai as around Tokyo. The typhoons take over: 2.1 typhoons approach Japan on average over the month.
Is July cheaper?
Across the cities we track, this is one of the four quietest months of the year for accommodation. The price range for the month is in the budget block, city by city.
Is July worth avoiding because of the rain?
Not for the rain: it lifts around July 20. What weighs after that is the heat and the humidity, the typhoons only come close in August and September, and Kyoto fills around the 17th and the 24th, the two days of the Gion Matsuri parades.
Going further
Calendar
Climbing Mt Fuji: four trails, two rulebooks
Four trails reach the summit, under two rulebooks. The one you reach from Tokyo shuts at 4,000 climbers a day; the other three demand a briefing first.
Calendar
How to book hotels in Japan: when sales open
The costly mistake is reading an empty calendar as a full one.
Calendar
Sumo tickets: six tournaments, six sale dates
Six 15-day tournaments a year. Three sit in Tokyo. Each has its own sale date, and the gap between that sale and the first bout runs from 29 to 57 days.
The next step
Which site to book on
Every site holds a different slice of Japan. See which site holds what.
Before you book: what a ryokan rate includes. It counts people rather than rooms, and dinner is nearly always part of it, served at a fixed time that you pick when you book rather than on the evening itself. Read the ryokan page.
Bookings for your dates open on a fixed date. We write that day.
Say you're after the cherry blossoms in April 2027: ryokan inns open around October. On the day, you get an email, you book, and it's done.
Temperature and rainfall: 1991-2020 normals from the Japan Meteorological Agency. Occupancy from Japan's official tourism statistics, public holidays from the official calendar. Tanuki Trip never books on your behalf. You book it yourself, wherever you want.