Japan in December: 6 Cities From −6.5°C to 20.8°C

Japan stretches a long way north to south, so "December" is not one climate. Sapporo's average night is −6.5°C and Okinawa's is 17.4°C — 23.9 degrees apart in the same month. A trip that lands in both ends of that range needs two sets of clothes, not one.

Ranked by December daytime average, north to south: Sapporo 0.2°C, Kyoto 10.6°C, Tokyo 11.4°C, Osaka 11.5°C, Fukuoka 11.6°C, Okinawa 20.8°C. Note how tightly the four middle cities cluster, 10.6–11.6°C. The difference that matters is at night, and the table at the end of this article splits it out city by city.

Tokyo averages a daily high of 11.4°C and a low of 2.4°C in December — a nine-degree swing inside one day, one of the widest of the six cities. The jacket that feels right at 3pm is often not enough at 9pm.

The Pacific side turns dry this month: Tokyo gets 56 mm of rain and only 7 days with 1 mm or more, against 208 mm in September. December is clearer than most people expect. The trade-off is colder, windier evenings than the autumn-leaf season.

Kyoto sits in a basin, so its nights run slightly colder than Tokyo's — a daily high of 10.6°C and a low of 1.4°C, a 9.2-degree swing, the widest of the six. December rainfall is 60 mm over 7 days with 1 mm or more, the same count as Tokyo.

Against November, Kyoto's best month on paper (high 16.3°C, 69 mm), December is 5.7 degrees colder and 9 mm drier. If you missed the leaves but still want clear skies, the month still works — you just need one more layer.

Osaka averages a high of 11.5°C, a low of 3.4°C, 56 mm of rain and 7 rain days. The daytime figure is effectively Tokyo's (11.4°C), but the night is a degree warmer than Tokyo and two degrees warmer than Kyoto — and Osaka and Kyoto are less than an hour apart by train.

Two degrees at night does not make one city cold and the other mild. It does mean that if your plan is to sleep in Osaka and walk around Kyoto in the evening, you should pack for Kyoto's numbers, not Osaka's.

Sapporo is the only one of the six where the average daily high drops to zero (0.2°C), with an average low of −6.5°C. That is 8.9 degrees colder at night than Tokyo in the same month, and 7.9 degrees colder than Sapporo's own November. December is when Hokkaido goes from cold to below freezing all night.

The more interesting figure is the day count: Sapporo has 17 days with 1 mm or more of precipitation in December, the most of the six cities, even though its monthly total (83 mm) is well below Okinawa's (146 mm). It falls often, in small amounts. The ERA5 dataset we use has no separate snow variable, so we can tell you how many wet days and how cold, but not how many centimetres fall as snow. For that, use the Japan Meteorological Agency link at the end of this article.

Fukuoka averages a high of 11.6°C, the warmest of the four middle cities, but the real difference is after dark: an average low of 5.8°C, 3.4 degrees above Tokyo, and the narrowest day-night swing of the four (5.8 degrees). It is the mildest night on the main islands if you do not cope well with hard cold.

The trade-off is rain: 74 mm across 10 wet days in December, more than Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, because Fukuoka takes more of the cold air coming off the Sea of Japan.

Okinawa is the only one of the six that stays in double digits around the clock in December — a high of 20.8°C and a low of 17.4°C, a swing of just 3.4 degrees, the narrowest of the six.

But warmest in Japan is not warm in the tropical sense. Okinawa's December daytime average (20.8°C) is 10.3 degrees below Bangkok's in the same month (31.1°C) and 5.2 degrees below Chiang Rai (26.0°C), the coolest province in our dataset. The other thing to plan for is rain: 146 mm in December, the highest of the six, over 12 wet days.

Pack to the average low of the city you are visiting, not the high. The moment people give up is at dusk and before dawn, not at midday. December average lows for the six cities: Sapporo −6.5, Kyoto 1.4, Tokyo 2.4, Osaka 3.4, Fukuoka 5.8, Okinawa 17.4°C.

The clothing guidance below is general advice derived from those temperature bands, not a measured result from our dataset. People tolerate cold differently, and wind always makes it feel colder than the number.

• Average low below 0°C (Sapporo): a windproof, waterproof winter coat, thermal base layers, hat, gloves, scarf, and shoes with grip — pavements ice over.
• Average low 1–4°C (Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka): a heavy coat, thermal base layer and a scarf cover evening walks. Gloves for windy days.
• Average low 5–6°C (Fukuoka): you can drop one coat weight, but keep a windbreaker — there are 10 wet days in the month.
• Average low 17°C and above (Okinawa): long sleeves and a light jacket are enough. Leave the winter coat at home, bring an umbrella.
• Everywhere: shops, trains and hotels run the heating hard. Layers you can take off beat one thick coat.

No. The 2026 national-holiday calendar published by Japan's Cabinet Office (内閣府), which we read on 27 October 2026, lists 16 public holidays for the year and none of them falls in December. The last one is Labour Thanksgiving Day on 23 November; the next is New Year's Day on 1 January 2027.

In practice that means shops, museums and trains mostly run weekday schedules through December. The year-end and New Year closures that do happen are each venue's own custom, not a statutory holiday — so check the official page of the specific place you want to visit. We do not publish a combined closure list here because the dates do not match from one venue to the next.

If the criterion is fewest wet days and least rain, it is Tokyo and Osaka (56 mm, 7 days each), then Kyoto (60 mm, 7 days). If it is mild nights on the main islands, it is Fukuoka (low 5.8°C), or Okinawa if you will take the extra flight (17.4°C).

If the criterion is a full winter, Sapporo is the only one of the six whose average daily high touches zero — at the cost of 17 wet days and a different level of preparation. We do not rank the cities against each other, because the criterion differs from traveller to traveller. The numbers are here so you can decide.

Use the tables to pick a city and pack. Use a real forecast to pick a day.

• Not a forecast — these are 10-year means (2016–2025) and any single year can differ a lot.
• It cannot tell you about snow — our ERA5 series carries daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation totals, and the count of days at or above 1 mm. There is no separate snow variable.
• The values are at the city coordinate — the mountains and ski areas around each city are always colder than this page.
• It does not cover monthly room prices — Tokyo's month-by-month room figures live in our Tokyo budget article, not here.
• It does not list year-end closing dates — check the official page of each venue.