OP here. Thank you so much all for your replies regarding the weather, plus the other travel tips! I really appreciate it.

I am now thinking we'll try to go over spring break (we can't go in December). We'll only have 10 days (including days for travel), so it'll be a little more rushed, but if the heat in June is worse than DC, it will be unbearable for me.

Thanks again!

I’m the second poster who said that Japan weather is like DCs. I lived in Japan for two years, it really is just like DC’s weather.

Personally, I would rather travel in June than December. Easier to walk around, and less stuff to pack. Also like in many countries, some Japanese houses aren’t very well insulated, so it gets very cold there, more so than in my American house. (One year, my cooking oil froze in my kitchen. Inside the house. )

This is why many of them still have kotatsu heated coffee tables with blankets to keep warm.

My vote is for June. And yes you can see Tokyo, Kyoto and probably Nara, Osaka or Kobe with 10 days.

Eh go to ClubMed Ishigaki.

There are adjoining rooms, you just have to call and ask. It's confusing and they won't offer it online. My family and I stayed at the cerulean hotel in shibuya Tokyo and I had to call the hotel and ask for adjoining rooms.

December is 5000 times better. Also for Ryokan. I am the PP with the long explanation.

In December, you can do a Ryokan near Tokyo in Hakone with two rooms and two hot tubs. Awesome experience with switch back trains. Better for couples, but I could see two rooms next to one another being fun. No need to do onsen with the kids if you don't want.

I will stop commenting now!

Anonymous wrote:I had the same question as OP. I can only visit during a long school break, as I'd like to go for 10 days and visit Osaka, Nara and Kyoto. My choices would be June or December.

Are you all saying Dec weather would be better?

December is cold. June hot. Pick your poison.

I had the same question as OP. I can only visit during a long school break, as I'd like to go for 10 days and visit Osaka, Nara and Kyoto. My choices would be June or December.

Are you all saying Dec weather would be better?

Yes

I have lived and worked in Japan, and travel there often to see clients. June in Japan is horrible (setting aside the mountains or up north). Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto will be pretty miserable. Is it less miserable than August or July, sure... Keep in mind also that Japan is a country where they have managed to paint the entire place with concrete, and I am being honest.

The humidity is one thing. The other thing to consider is the way they have the AC set - very high (i.e. like 78 or 80). That includes on the shink (bullet train); super not comfortable. In a western style hotel like an Okura branch or Intercontinental you can control your AC.

IF you do go, as mentioned above, I don't think I have ever seen adjoining rooms in Japan in 10 plus years traveling there. I don't think it is a thing.

Public transit in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto is pretty easy to figure out quickly. Your kids can even get a personalized passmo card with their name on it from the machines in the Tokyo Metro stations. You will experience less English in Osaka, and then another level down in Kyoto once you leave the tourist areas.

Honestly, I would go in the Fall. That is my preferred time for marketing trips, or late spring after the sakura bloom (cherry blossom).

Either way, enjoy Japan. Wonderful place, amazing people!

It's fine.
August is so much worse...

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Japan for the summer while also living in DC - it's not pleasant in the summer. You'll be sweating like crazy!

Japan is an island--but it is a long north/south island. The northern tip of Honshu (the main island) is equivalent to New England. There's a lot to see in Japan outside of Tokyo--although the famous sites tend to be more south. Google Lake Towada--there are some gorgeous places in the north.

I lived in Japan for the summer while also living in DC - it's not pleasant in the summer. You'll be sweating like crazy!

Anonymous wrote:It’s very similar to dc weather. Hot and humid in the summer but not more so than here.

I would look at the Japan national tourism board site, and consider staying in a ryokan Japanese style hotel in Kyoto. Might be hard to find an adjoining rooms hotel unless you stay in a major western chain, and that might be expensive.

Get one of frommers or Fodors books from the library and start reading.

Japan is way more hu.id than DC.

DC is maybe a 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Japan is a 15.

It’s very similar to dc weather. Hot and humid in the summer but not more so than here.

I would look at the Japan national tourism board site, and consider staying in a ryokan Japanese style hotel in Kyoto. Might be hard to find an adjoining rooms hotel unless you stay in a major western chain, and that might be expensive.

Get one of frommers or Fodors books from the library and start reading.

We're thinking of a two-week trip in early-mid June. The average June temperatures for Tokyo and Kyoto look lower than those of the DC area, but apparently it's also very humid. Could anyone who's traveled to Japan in June comment on whether it's hotter/more humid there than the DC area at the same time of year?

Would also love recommendations for good family hotels in Tokyo & Kyoto (ideally we'd like two adjoining rooms for us and our two kids)..

Thanks!