April is when Japan's cherry blossom season reaches most of the country at once. Tokyo and Kyoto typically open in the first half of the month and reach full bloom within a week to ten days of opening, a peak The Classic Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan is built directly against. The new fiscal and school year begins nationwide on 1 April, a date that shapes far more of Japanese public life this month than any visitor sees directly.
the weather
The weather
Tokyo's April days average a high of 19.4°C and a low of 9.8°C. Kyoto runs close to the same figures, 20.1°C by day and 9.2°C overnight, since both cities sit in the same broad climate band despite Kyoto's inland basin sharpening the extremes at either end of the year. Sapporo is a different country: an average high of 11.7°C and a low of 3.4°C, figures from the Japan Meteorological Agency's published climate normals for 1991 to 2020, the thirty-year average against which every year in Japan is still read. Rain follows the same normals: Tokyo averages 133.7 millimetres of precipitation across around 6.7 days with measurable rain in April, while Sapporo's own April total is 54.6 millimetres, mostly as rain by this point in the year.
in season
What is in season
- Cherry blossom (sakura) reaches its national peak, with Tokyo and Kyoto typically at full bloom within the first half of the month.
- The Japanese fiscal and school year begins on 1 April.
- Wisteria begins to open from late April in gardens across the country.
- Fresh bamboo shoots (takenoko) are in season.
- Hanami, the custom of picnicking and gathering beneath the blossom, is at its height wherever the trees are open.
beyond the three cities
Beyond Tokyo, Kyoto and Sapporo
April's cherry blossom moves the length of the country within the month itself. By the time Tokyo and Kyoto reach full bloom in the first half of April, Kyushu's blossom has already finished; by the time the month ends, the season is only beginning in Tohoku and has not yet reached Hokkaido at all, which is why the Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido waits until the very end of April to open.
closed and crowded
What is closed, and what is crowded
April is the single most visited month in the Japanese calendar. Tokyo's Chidorigafuchi and Kyoto's Maruyama Park and Philosopher's Path are at their busiest during the first half of the month, and hotel rooms in both cities are booked out well ahead of the season. The very end of April opens directly into Golden Week, the country's busiest domestic travel week, covered in full under May, so the final days of the month are best planned around, not through. Opening hours at smaller shops, temples and museums vary enough by day and by property that any single visit is worth confirming the same week, rather than relying on a printed schedule alone.
what to wear
What to wear
A light jacket through the first half of the month, and by late April a cardigan or a light coat for the evenings is usually enough. Comfortable, flat shoes matter more than warmth this month, given how much of a cherry blossom day is spent standing and walking. Comfortable, easily removed shoes are worth choosing whatever the season, since temples, ryokan and traditional restaurants alike expect shoes off at the door, often several times in a single day.
where the tours run
Where Luxury Japan Travel goes in April
The Classic Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan runs through the first ten days of April, to 10 April 2027, twelve days from Tokyo to Osaka at $19,500 per person. The Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido follows directly behind it, opening on 28 April 2027 for the later, longer bloom further north, at $18,500 per person. Both are timed against the historical ladder and the dated 2027 figures as they are released, set out in full in the Cherry Blossom Forecast 2027, and both take a deposit of USD $3,500 per person, with the balance due 95 days before travel.
the year
Continue through the year
This page is one of twelve, one for each month of the Japanese year, each reporting the same weather, season and closure detail in its own month and linking both of its neighbours in the sequence. April sits between March and May on that calendar, and the full set is gathered in The Japan Edition's Seasons hub.