Погода: Кобе, март

Late March here swings hard - one day mild, the next genuinely cold - and regulars pack for both: long sleeves, a sweater, a light jacket and something that rolls up small. Our row gives 15.7C reading as 14C and 7C nights that feel like 4C, with 104.6mm of rain across 9.9 days, so the umbrella is not optional either. On the blossom they are careful: the trees will be somewhere between budding and open depending on the year's warmth, and the forecast is the only guide. This is the same caution kagoshima/3 records further south, where the season starts earlier. The record: humidity 72 percent, 8.4 hours of sun and AQI 64.

Forum posters consistently rate November as one of the best, most settled months to visit the Kobe and wider Kansai region, describing it as more reliable than the fickle weather of spring. Posters cite temperatures around 19C in late November, expected to drop into the low-to-mid teens by mid-December, with a light jacket or cardigan enough for daytime and a jumper plus a light quilted jacket sufficient for chilly evenings. Posters consistently name the last week of November, from around the 23rd, as a fairly safe bet for peak autumn foliage (koyo) around Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka, though posters note an unusually warm year can push the best colors into early December instead. Posters generally rate November as an excellent, comfortable time to visit Kobe.

Forum posters call May one of Japan's nicest months overall - warm, generally pre-rainy-season, though occasional rain still happens even before the wet season proper arrives (typically starting June 7-10 in nearby Osaka/Kyoto, though one notably early year saw the Kansai region's rainy season begin in mid-May, three weeks ahead of normal). The standard packing advice reflects that uncertainty: everything from short sleeves to a light jacket and a folding rain parka. The reward for visiting in May-June is called genuinely spectacular - deep green foliage, iris blooms and hydrangeas turning sublime shades of blue across the region's gardens and temples.