Most people seem to be afraid of rainy days while traveling. So, for obvious reasons, tsuyu (rainy season) - which falls around June to early July - tends to be a relatively unpopular time to visit Japan.
Rain can have flaws while traveling, but I personally love rainy days in Japan. And I think that, with some creative planning, tsuyu can be one of the best and most memorable moments of the year to travel in Japan.
So do not let the rain dampen your parade. Here are some of my favorite things to do on a rainy day in Japan!
Hydrangea Hunting
Hydrangea in Japansource
Everyone comes to Japan for cherry blossoms, but I like the less-famous flowers that bloom at other times of the year.
From June to early July, hydrangea clusters are blooming in bushes throughout the country, in baby blue, lilac, and blush pink shades. They take the quality of another world when it's drizzling, as if they shine through the leaves.
There are many hydrangea lanes and parks around Japan, but some great places to see it are Meigetsuin Shrine and Hasedera Shrine in Kamakura. If you are a fan of hardcore plants, Kyoto Botanical Garden is home to 180 types of hydrangeas.
If you've ever tired of hydrangea, the irises are also in full bloom during this season. Like hydrangea, iris-shana-shobu, or Japan's precise water iris - requires abundant baths in June to flourish.
Several places to see it: Meiji Jingu Inner Garden and Hamarikyu Park in Tokyo; Suigo Sawara Aquatic Botanical Garden in Chiba; and Byakko Pond at Heian Shrine in Kyoto.
Visit Japanese Gardens and Shrine
Nanzen-ji Templesource
If you've ever watched Makoto Shinkai's movie, The Garden of Words, featuring Shinjuku Gyoen National Park, you'll know how lush and beautiful green plants can rain.
The crowd is also very thin on a rainy day, so there will be less people to jostle. On a morning on a weekday, you can even find that you have these spaces for yourself!
The wet day brings the spirit of moss, so it's also a fantastic time to see moss, which has really happened in recent years.
Look for moss gardens like Saiho-ji in Kyoto (requiring a significantly made reservation beforehand), or take a stroll to the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji) and enjoy the lush and soft mossy carpets.
In the same vein, temples and shrines are incredible in the rain, especially in the mountains.
Close your eyes and imagine: the sound of rain falling on the rocks in the Zen stone garden; the toriiapung gate in Miyajima partially covered with white clouds and drizzle, emerging from the sea and fog; water dripping down a chain of bronze rain hanging on the roof of the temple.
Soak in Onsen or Sento
The open bath at Nishimuraya Honkansource
The rainy season is perfect for an onsen town retreat, not least because you will enjoy amazing places for yourself!
Spend a few days in the gorgeous city and enjoy a bath or ten. Watching rain fall while bathing in an outdoor bath is a pure luxury, especially if you happen to look out into the mountains.
Japan is very bad with onsen cities - Beppu, Kinosaki Onsen, and Arima Onsen are just a few. Choose one, take the train, and soak your worries.
Alternatively support the dying industry and local kunjungisento (public baths) when wet. Public baths are not provided by natural hot springs, but use ordinary heated tap water.
Bring your own towels or buy them disento. They are a cheaper alternative to hot springs, and a great way to experience the Japanese side you will never see otherwise (literally) .I love eavesdropping on the old lady gossiping in my local public baths!
Contents sento journalist Stephanie Crohin is Instagram for advice on where to go. Complete research with Thermae Romae, a silly but insightful introduction to Japanese bathing culture in the manga form. It has also been made into animated series and live-action movies.
Find some fireflies
The fireflies darted around the forestsource
June may bring rain and humidity, but early summer is also a season for firefly mating. Firefly appearance has been a popular Japanese summer hobby for centuries, and it's no surprise why - seeing the glowing light emitted by these tiny insects is an experience Another World.
There are various firefly festivals hosted by private entities in Japan during June to early July, such as the Firefly Fussa Festival.
If you are not interested in a potentially crowded experience and want to search for them independently, you must travel further from urban areas to more remote, richly landscaped places with artificial light and less people, such as rice fields, rivers or swamps.
But try, and you may be rewarded as the night comes glowing with dots of light in the dark like the scene of dreams.
Plan a Writing Retreat
Latte artsource
When it rains, bring the novel you're working on to the cafe!
You can even plan your entire journey by writing in kissaten, ancient Japanese cafes. There's nothing like heavy coffee, humming conversations, and rain sounds to stimulate your creative juices.
Japan is home to some remarkable cafe spaces, both traditional and modern.
If you are not a writer, grab your book or Kindle and hang out at the beautiful Tsutaya bookstore on the Daikanyama T-Site for the day. With a top-notch selection of books and magazines, this is a dream come true for bibliophile and nut design.
Hunting for Hot Food
Tonkotsu ramen in Hakata (aka Fukuoka), Japansource
Nabe (hotpot), curry rice, ramen, curry soup. Hot soups and spicy dishes taste good any time of the year, and are exponentially better on a cold and wet day.
This is the kind of travel memory that warms me to the core: wiggle the water in your brolly and enter the warm restaurant, greeted by soup and spicy and steaming stew. I recently enjoyed a dinner of chazazuke and sea food at a candlelit waterfront restaurant while a typhoon howled outside - a truly magical experience.
Go to the Crawl Museum
Miho Museumsource
The wet days are perfect to mark all the museums on your bucket list. There are a million and one exhibitions that happen at any given time in big cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, so you will not lack much things to do.
Shop all out
Shopping on a rainy daysource
What better time to shop than when it rains?
Spend a day or two to explore the inimitable Japanese department stores, especially their big and lucrative depachika.
Come tsuyu, shops like Loft present a selection of rain-related items, such as patterned umbrellas and funky raincoats. Take an umbrella and walk romantically in the rain with your lover - this is known in Japan as ai-ai-gasa, or "love-love umbrella."
Take some photos
Ocean umbrella in Harajukusource
For a photographer, there is no such thing as bad weather. Rainy days bring different visual dimensions to Japan - more vivid colors and glossy and shimmering leaves, for example.
In addition to all the places suggested above, just imagine the sea of umbrella moving in the seizure of Shibuya, Shinjuku fluorescent lights in heavy rain, breeding children with colorful umbrellas and rain boots, various small human dramas stretching down the road.
It's the wet dream of a photographer.
Rainy days can be a wonderful time to see and do amazing things in Japan. I hope this gives you some ideas for rainy holiday days!