Last week of March, first 2 wks of April. Cherry blossom time is magical!

Posted Jan 16, 2011

Try to coordinate your trip around the Cherry Blossom Festival so you can see the Japanese celebrate spring as the Cherry Trees blossom. In Ueno Park in downtown Tokyo, you can see countless families and friend congregate in this park and many others, drinking and eating under the blossoming trees. 

A trip to a Hot Springs (packages available from Tokyo)  is a great experience. You should be able to find some excursions for those who don't speak Japanese. Sitting in a 104 degree natural hot springs near the crashing waves of the ocean is a special experience. This is possible in the Izu peninsula less than 2 hours from Tokyo. Izu Hokkawa is a train stop on the JR line to Atami where you can go for a few hours and sit in the public bath that borders the Pacific Ocean. When I was there I got a map at the station, walked to the bath alongside the ocean, paid my 500 yen and took off my clothes and jumped in. Amazing.

The Odakyu Train line has connections to Hakone and the Izu peninsula, and has overnight packages where you can stay in different types of Japanese Inns, from hotels to ryokkans where meals are brought to your room by elderly ladies wearing kimono.

The symbol for an Onsen (Japanese bath hotel or resort) is an oval with three spiraling lines above it. These are for the three baths you are expected to take while there for a one night stay. Your arrive and bathe, then eat dinner and bathe, and then in the morning bathe again. Leaving such an experience your cheeks will be rosy for days, as your body will have retained some of the heat of the spring water for a while. This is a key to health, in the eyes of the country's citizens.

Enjoy your trip and consider a JR Rail pass if you plan to travel around the country. It is a bargain, and can be validated and use started at the airport, for travel into downtown Tokyo.

Posted Jan 16, 2011

Nathan:

   March/April, and especially during Cherry Blossom season are great times to visit Tokyo.

   If you get lonesome for a American steak dinner, go to Roy's.  Order a baked potato in advance from your hotel concierge.  The staff will be saying "welcome" in Japanese as soon as you hit the door. It's a hoot.

      If you are not staying there, stop at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Imperial Hotel, across from the Emperor's palace grounds.  You'll see all types of very interesting international business and diplomatic types in the lobby, which may even include a sheik in full costume with armed bodyguards.  Another interesting experience.

Warm Regards and Happy Travels,
Lance Johnson
Oklahoma City, OK

Posted Dec 21, 2010

it is a great time to go and beautiful...can be chilly of course...for me...fall is the best time to visit asia...but cherry blossom time is fantastic! enjoy your trip!

Posted Dec 21, 2010

I vote for Spring or Fall.  Winter can be downright freezing!  And I was there in the summer...and was drenched with all of the heat and humidity!!  YUCK! 

Posted Dec 22, 2010

Nathan - The Spring is an incredible time of year to visit Japan. The Sakura (cherry) blossom season is one the best times to go. I would also recommend that if you have an extra day or two that you try to visit Kyoto as it is beautiful and its really only a few hour Shinkansen ride from central Tokyo. Enjoy! Mike

Posted Dec 22, 2010

May and October/early November are the best times of the year in Tokyo. March can still be cold with periodic rain/sleet, and April tends to be, well, mercurial as the weather can't seem to decide if it's ready for a full commitment to spring.

Posted Dec 22, 2010

if your plans are for that time, then the weather will be what it will be - early spring with the variances that brings with it. more than likely you will see cherry blossom in bloom in tokyo if you time your trip for end march/start april. 

Posted Dec 25, 2010

It is definitely good time to go there. Actually one of the best time in Japan. It might be a bit chilly, but better than SF in March :)

You should go there when cherry bossoms blossom in Tokyo. That's the one of the few things that I miss about Japan. You'll be amazed how beautiful they are.

Posted Dec 27, 2010

Spring is beautiful for seeing the cherry blossoms (depending on the time of your visit). I've seen them starting in mid-March and in total bloom in early April). It can be chilly, but then it can be warmer. Pack accordingly and have a great trip.

Posted Dec 28, 2010

I went in mid-April this year.  Yes, I caught the end of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, but it also rained a lot.  Not sure if this indicative of the climate, but it rained rather steadily I think 9 of 14 days. 

Posted Dec 28, 2010

Its perfect... i slept  up at Higashi goen on a day walk nap, as my eyes opened i  had a blanket of sakura blossoms all over me.  Guess my timing was perfect cuz the park went from green to pink.  Don't forget to get a rail pass (which only foreigners can get ) so you can travel to other parts in case you wanted to experience a variety of weather

Posted Dec 30, 2010

Perfect time to visit Japan.  The cherry blossom season is one of my favorites.  There are plenty of trees in Tokyo proper but if you want to really see some good blooms you've got to get out of the city and go to some of the smaller towns just outside of Tokyo (maybe 45min-1:15 train ride).  Definitely worth it.

Posted Dec 31, 2010

Everybody's already indicated that it's a good time to go, which it certainly is. My word of caution is that it is also the end of the school year which means all school kids are out.  So you will want to make reservations well ahead of time especially for the trains and hotels.

In Tokyo and other major cities, there will be "hanami" festivals - cherry blossom viewing.  Weather-wise, it is about comparable to Washington DC (the cherry blossoms along the basin in DC were a gift from the Japanese gov't....comparable climate and they blossom around the same time as Japan's).

Posted Jan 08, 2011

end of march/early april is a great time to be in tokyo, but don't make the mistake i made-- bring a winter coat! i assumed it would be warmer and just brought a trench coat. i was pretty miserable. it also rained A LOT, so bring your galoshes!

i arrived on march 21 and the cherry blossoms were just starting to come out. but as we went further south, the blossoms weren't completely open even a few days into april. 

even if all the tokyo-ites aren't out in full-throttle hanami mode, the presence of sakura is EVERYWHERE in cherry blossom season-- every store is decorated in pink and every bakery has blossom-flavored specialties! it's really worth being there just to witness the japanese obsession with the blossoms.

Posted Jan 09, 2011

i was there in early March - too soon for cherry blossoms, but the weather was great. cold but sunny and the air was really clear. we could see mt fuji from our hotel room, except for our last day when it snowed. totally recommended!

Posted Jan 11, 2011

It can be cold, but it's not at all humid which is a bonus in my book.  And yes, dependent on when you are here, you may see the cherry blossoms.  I advise booking your accomm as early as possible once your flights are sorted.

Posted Jan 13, 2011