Погода: Канадзава, июль

Forum posters consistently recommend Hakuba as a cooler mountain alternative to Tokyo's oppressive July heat and humidity, alongside other Nagano Prefecture mountain towns like Karuizawa and Kamikochi. Posters describe July as the start of Hakuba's 'Green Season,' with hiking, mountain biking and canoeing all rated as good activities, and note hotel rates run cheaper than winter ski season even though some hotels and restaurants close for the shoulder period. Posters do flag July as generally the hottest month even in Hakuba, with highs occasionally reaching into the high-80sF on a warm day, though this stays notably more comfortable than the lowland cities. Posters generally recommend Hakuba specifically for anyone wanting outdoor summer activities without the worst of Japan's urban summer heat.

Regulars are direct that this falls squarely within typhoon season here, a day or two of genuinely heavy downpour and strong wind a real possibility that can disrupt transport and sightseeing plans. Our row backs that warm, genuinely wet read, 28.1C reading as a hot 31C, over 21C nights feeling 22C, with a substantial 202mm of rain across 15.3 days and humidity at 84 percent. Regulars are consistent most of the rain that does fall arrives without the wind, an inexpensive umbrella the standard advice rather than a reason to cancel outdoor plans outright. Kanazawa itself can also catch the tail end of typhoons making landfall elsewhere in Japan even without a direct hit. The sea sits at a bath-warm 28C. The record: 8.3 hours of sun, an 18.3 kph wind and AQI 40.

March here is the end of a Sea of Japan winter rather than the start of spring. It can still snow in the first week, and our column carries 13.1cm across the month; the pines in Kenrokuen are still wearing their yukitsuri, the rope cones that hold the branches up under snow. Plum blossom opens from about the middle of the month in the grove at the garden's southern end, while the cherry belongs to April - regulars put the gardens at their best two or three weeks after mid-March. The weather is the cost: 12.9C reading as 9C, nights at 4.2C standing at 0C in a 22.9 kph wind, and 139.8mm of rain across 15 days. Early mornings are the quiet hours. The record: humidity 75 percent, 8.4 hours of sun and AQI 58.

Regulars put the Kanazawa blossom peak around the 10th to the 15th of April, with a chance from about the 6th depending on the year, and they attach a warning that matters more than the dates. Spring rain is frequent here, and rain arriving with strong wind brings the flowers down with it - so the risk to the trip is not a wet afternoon but the end of the thing you came for. Our row is blunt about both halves: 153.4mm across 12.8 days, and a 22 kph average wind. Days reach 17.9C over 8.9C nights that feel like 5C, so layers rather than spring clothes. The record: humidity 75 percent, 9.2 hours of sun, 0.8cm of snow still on the books and AQI 64.

The tsuyu reaches Kanazawa around the 8th to the 10th of June, so the first week is the dry one and the rest of the month is the rainy season - though regulars are careful that this does not mean rain every day, and that what falls is usually light and warm rather than torrential, often intermittent and sometimes replaced by sun. Our row is at the wet end of that description: 152.6mm across 12.3 precipitation days, about twelve millimetres a wet day, under 26.6C and 79 percent humidity. Their advice is not to reschedule around it. Unless it is pouring, go to Kenrokuen - the hydrangeas and the moss are at their best now and the rain thins the crowds - and if you arrive without one, hotels lend umbrellas and any convenience store sells one for about 500 yen. The record: 19C nights, 9.7 hours of sun and AQI 64.