If you’re going to be cycling or doing any activity outdoors in Japan it pays to know the weather forecast for Japan. Pretty obvious, right? Having looked at which season can be good to visit, now a few tips on monitoring conditions day to day.
You probably have a trusted website or app for use at home. Regular websites like Google, Accuweather and so on have plenty of information. But the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website is very useful with a lot of features within quick reach.
Relax, it’s in English
The page at https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/menu.html has a plain text menu of various forecasts. The daily forecast is pretty obvious but click thru and you get a map of the country. Here you can zoom in to local areas and see the days ahead on the the tabs, pretty standard. If you see parts of the country coloured yellow this means clear weather and sunshine. Blue parts show rain. It’s not a scale where yellow means, say, light rain and blue is heavier.
The “Three-hourly Forecasts” page is probably the most useful for outdoor activities. You can look for the rain forecast. It’s not just the next three hours, but the three hours after that and so on. I was using the Navitime app recently as it’s great for rail timetables and noticed they were selling a premium version offering rain radar. The JMA gives you this for free.
The Tropical Cyclone Information page is useful if you’re visiting Japan in typhoon season, typically August to October. You can track the cyclone as it approaches land or – hopefully – as it stays away. This is less unique as if something big is blowing in the path map becomes inescapable. You’ll see the same chart on TV and on newspaper front pages. Anyway here you can get updates when you want. And remember if you’re in the path of the typhoon the very middle is not the worst part. Instead it’s the weather moving in ahead that is stormy.
Otherwise you’ll get the hang of it, think about booking marking or saving the JMA site for your next trip.
Travel tips
- If you’re visiting from abroad, your usual website or app for the weather forecast in Japan is useful because it’s familiar
- Weather’s a big deal in Japan thanks to the ocean climate, mountains and more. When it rains, it can often pour
- The JMA website is helpful and accurate, particularly the Three-hourly Forecast showing bands of approaching rain which can be a premium feature elsewhere
