Japan · December 2026 · Weather, events and ski openings
Japan in December is the start of winter, and the weather divides between the Pacific and Sea of Japan coasts: Tokyo’s normal December brings 174 hours of sunshine and 58 mm of precipitation, while Kanazawa on the Sea of Japan coast gets 69 hours and 301 mm (JMA 1991–2020 normals). In 2026 the month has no national holiday, several ski resorts are scheduled to be running before it starts, and government offices close from 29 December to 3 January.
The colour, the crowds and the night openings of the month before are in Japan in November 2026. This page starts where that one stops: what is left of autumn, what opens, what the weather does city by city, and where the year-end pressure really begins.
December 2026 in two halves
The useful dividing line is the middle of the month. In the first week Eikando and Rikugien still list evening maple openings and Shiga Kogen’s shared lift-ticket period begins on the 5th; in the second half Naeba’s listed date (18 December) and GALA Yuzawa’s first ski day (19 December) arrive, the Christmas markets run their final days and government offices close from 29 December.
1–14 December
Evening maple openings end on 6 December at Eikando (Kyoto) and Rikugien (Tokyo). Chichibu Night Festival on 2–3 December. Shiga Kogen’s shared lift-ticket period begins on the 5th. Tokyo’s sun sets at 16:28 every day to the 13th.
15–31 December
Kasuga Wakamiya On-matsuri in Nara on 15–18, Hagoita-ichi at Sensoji on 17–19. Naeba opens on the 18th, GALA Yuzawa’s pistes on the 19th. Solstice on the 22nd. Offices close from the 29th.
Running into late December
Kaomise kabuki at Minamiza, 1–24 December. Tokyo Christmas Market at Shin-Toyosu and Sapporo’s Odori Park illumination, both to 25 December. Fuji City’s 8 a.m. record gives December the highest Mt Fuji visibility rate of the year.
For temples and gardens, the first week is the one that still has colour on the official calendars. For skiing, the second half is the safer bet simply because that is where the big resorts’ own scheduled opening dates fall. For 29–31 December, check each venue’s own holiday hours as well as the government-office closure dates.
Is early December too late for autumn leaves?
Not in the lowland gardens of Kyoto and Tokyo, but it is the tail rather than the peak. The clearest evidence is the temples’ and gardens’ own calendars: Eikando runs its evening maple opening from 20 November to 6 December 2026, Rikugien in Tokyo holds its evening viewing from 25 November to 6 December, and Kitano Tenmangu lists its maple garden as open from late October to early December.
Those end dates were fixed months in advance. They tell you when the gates close, not how much colour is left on the day. For where the colour actually is in a given week, use the live koyo tracker. The Kyoto in November 2026 guide has the city’s 2026 night openings and booking rules; for Tokyo, the Tokyo autumn leaves guide covers which garden turns last.
In the Kyoto City Tourism Association’s hotel surveys, December 2025 was cheaper than November 2025. Its survey of 113 main hotels put the December 2025 average room rate at ¥21,638, with occupancy at 77.9%; for November 2025, across 110 hotels, the figures were ¥29,085 and 86.9%. That is about a quarter lower. The association points out that its rate is revenue per occupied room, not the per-person price a booking site shows, and the 2025 figures don’t predict December 2026 rates. If early December is the plan, compare Kyoto rooms on Agoda for your exact nights.
What’s on in December 2026
Every date below comes from the organiser’s own page as of 3 October 2026, except the Chichibu seat sales, checked on 10 October. Chichibu, the On-matsuri and Hagoita-ichi keep the same dates every year, so only the weekday changes.
| Dates | Event, place and what the organiser says |
|---|---|
| 1–24 Dec | Kaomise kabuki, Minamiza (Kyoto). Shochiku lists 1–24 December 2026, with no performances on the 9th and 17th; tickets are planned to go on sale on 9 November. |
| 2–3 Dec (Wed–Thu) | Chichibu Night Festival, Chichibu (Saitama). Eve on the 2nd, main day on the 3rd. The tourism association puts the peak at about 7–10 p.m. on the 3rd. |
| to 6 Dec | Evening maple openings. Eikando (Kyoto) from 20 November; Rikugien (Tokyo) from 25 November. |
| 6 Dec (Sun) | NAHA Marathon, Naha (Okinawa). The 40th race; entries have closed. |
| 20 Nov – 25 Dec | Tokyo Christmas Market. At Shin-Toyosu (to 25 December) and, from 4 December, at Shiba Park by Onarimon Station. Entry is ticketed: at Shin-Toyosu, adults pay ¥1,000 on weekdays and ¥1,500 on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays through 23 December, and ¥2,000 on 24 and 25 December. |
| 20 Nov – 25 Dec | Sapporo White Illumination and Munich Christmas Market, Odori Park (Sapporo). The Odori section of the illumination ends on 25 December; the Ekimae-dori section runs to 11 February 2027. |
| 15–18 Dec | Kasuga Wakamiya On-matsuri, Nara. The procession (Owatari-shiki) leaves at noon on the 17th; the rites at the Otabisho follow from about 2:30 p.m. |
| 17–19 Dec | Hagoita-ichi battledore fair, Sensoji (Tokyo). In the temple grounds. From October to March the main hall opens at 6:30. |
| 21 Dec (Mon) | Kobo-ichi market, Toji (Kyoto). Held on the 21st of every month, with close to 1,000 stalls by the temple’s count; December’s is the last of the year. |
| 25 Dec (Fri) | Shimai-Tenjin, Kitano Tenmangu (Kyoto). The year’s last monthly fair. The shrine cites about 1,000 stalls and 150,000 visitors for its January and December fairs. |
If you’re going to Sapporo for the Odori illumination or the Christmas market, both of which end on 25 December, compare Sapporo hotels on Booking.com for your dates.
Chichibu is the one to plan around. The Chichibu Tourism Association sells reserved pipe-chair seats in the special arena in front of the city hall for the night of 3 December, scheduled for 17:00 to 22:30, at ¥4,000 a seat including tax. Everyone aged 3 or over pays, and so does a younger child who uses a seat; seat requests are not accepted. Its 10 October notice for the “B” seats puts 200 on sale over the counter at the Yao Department Store travel salon (5th floor) in Chichibu from 31 October to 3 November, 10:00 to 18:30, cash only, up to four per person, while they last. Another 150 go by postcard lottery: a standard Japanese postcard with your postcode, address, name, phone number and number of seats, postmarked 19 to 22 October. The draw is on 27 October, winners hear only when the tickets arrive, and they pay for the tickets plus ¥1,000 postage per application and the bank-transfer fee. Its September notice warns that the details could change substantially. With the main procession running to about 10 p.m., staying in Chichibu that night is worth pricing against the trip back.
Chichibu rooms for the night of 3 December
Check Chichibu on Booking.com
Not in December: Kobe Luminarie. Its organisers have scheduled the 32nd Luminarie for 29 January to 7 February 2027, at Meriken Park, Higashi Yuenchi and the old foreign settlement. A December trip to Kobe will not overlap it.
When does the Japan ski season start for 2026-27?
Near Tokyo it starts in October; in the big Niigata and Nagano resorts, in December. Karuizawa Prince lists 31 October and GALA Yuzawa schedules skiing from 19 December; Shiga Kogen publishes a shared lift-ticket period and Happo-one says when its early-bird tickets are valid, which are not opening announcements.
| Resort | 2026-27 date, as the resort states it |
|---|---|
| Karuizawa Prince (Nagano) | 31 October 2026; season to 31 March 2027 |
| Snow Park Yeti (Shizuoka) | “Late October”, planned; no date announced on 3 October |
| Sapporo Teine (Hokkaido) | 21 November 2026, planned |
| Furano (Hokkaido) | 28 November 2026, planned; to 5 May 2027 |
| Shiga Kogen (Nagano) | 5 December 2026 for the shared lift ticket; to 5 May 2027 |
| Naeba (Niigata) | 18 December 2026; Dragondola from 26 December, planned |
| GALA Yuzawa (Niigata) | Skiing from 19 December 2026; gondola and sightseeing lift only on 12–18 December |
| Happo-one (Nagano) | Early-bird lift tickets valid on operating days from 19 December 2026 |
Before 5 December, the resorts on this list with an October or November date are Karuizawa, Yeti (late October, planned) and the two Hokkaido resorts. By 19 December every date in the table has arrived, which still doesn’t mean every slope is open, so check each resort’s operating status before you go.
A start date is not a snow promise. GALA states that during its 12–18 December sightseeing week there is no skiing whatever the snow. Shiga Kogen’s dates are, in its own words, the operating period of the shared lift ticket. Check each resort’s status page in the week before you go.
Zao’s snow monsters are a later sight: the ropeway operator names February as the best month and starts its light-up nights on 26 December, so Zao snow monsters 2026–27 has the dates and tickets. The day-trip options from Tokyo are compared by journey time in ski resorts near Tokyo, and GALA’s split season is explained in the GALA Yuzawa guide.
Staying in Yuzawa for the 19 December opening weekend
Check Yuzawa on Booking.comHow much snow does December bring?
A lot in the north and on the Sea of Japan side, and none in Tokyo’s normals. JMA’s normal December snowfall is 143 cm in Aomori and 113 cm in Sapporo, against zero in Tokyo.
| Station | December snowfall · days with snow |
|---|---|
| Aomori | 143 cm · 26.0 days |
| Sapporo | 113 cm · 27.9 days |
| Nagano | 30 cm · 19.0 days |
| Kanazawa | 24 cm · 14.5 days |
| Kyoto | 2 cm · 6.9 days |
| Tokyo | 0 cm · 0.6 days |
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency, 1991–2020 monthly normals for the stations named (December).
Snowfall is the total that falls over the month, not what lies on the ground. JMA’s normal for December’s deepest snow cover is 51 cm in Aomori and 47 cm in Sapporo. Kyoto’s normals, 6.9 days with snow but 2 cm in total, point to light snow; they don’t tell you whether snow will settle on a given day.
Sapporo’s December is short as well as white: the sun sets at 16:00 every day from 3 to 15 December. The Odori Park illumination and the Munich Christmas Market both run from 20 November to 25 December.
Getting there is covered in Tokyo to Hokkaido, and the Hokkaido Rail Pass guide works out when the pass pays. When a heavy snowfall is forecast on your route, travelling Japan in heavy snow lists what to do before it lands.
Japan weather in December, city by city
In these normals Tokyo and Osaka are dry and sunny, Kanazawa and the northern stations are wet or snowy, and Naha stays mild, with a normal low above 16°C but 110 mm of rain. Tokyo is sunnier in December than in November (174 hours against 150) and has about 40% less precipitation (57.9 mm against 96.3 mm).
| Station | High / low · precipitation · sunshine |
|---|---|
| Tokyo | 12.0 / 3.8°C 57.9 mm · 174 h sun |
| Osaka | 12.3 / 5.3°C 55.5 mm · 152 h sun |
| Kyoto | 11.6 / 3.5°C 57.3 mm · 134 h sun |
| Fukuoka | 12.6 / 5.8°C 67.5 mm · 112 h sun |
| Naha | 21.5 / 16.8°C 110.0 mm · 107 h sun |
| Kanazawa | 10.2 / 3.5°C 301.1 mm · 69 h sun |
| Nagano | 6.9 / −1.5°C 49.4 mm · 131 h sun |
| Aomori | 4.5 / −1.4°C 155.2 mm · 50 h sun |
| Sapporo | 2.0 / −4.0°C 114.5 mm · 83 h sun |
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency, 1991–2020 monthly normals (December), stations as named; sunshine rounded to the hour.
Kanazawa is less than 2°C cooler than Tokyo by day, but its December is five times wetter and gets about 40% of Tokyo’s sunshine. Tokyo is about 5°C colder than in November, by day and by night.
Southeast Asia traveler tip: Tokyo’s normal December low is 3.8°C and Sapporo’s is −4.0°C. Naha, at 21.5°C by day and 16.8°C at night, is the only city in this table with a normal December low above 10°C.
Daylight and sunset
For sightseeing, the short days are the bigger constraint. Each row gives sunrise to sunset on 1 December and on the solstice, 22 December 2026.
| City | Sunrise–sunset |
|---|---|
| Sapporo | 1 Dec: 6:46–16:01 22 Dec: 7:03–16:03 |
| Tokyo | 1 Dec: 6:32–16:28 22 Dec: 6:47–16:32 |
| Kyoto | 1 Dec: 6:46–16:45 22 Dec: 7:01–16:50 |
| Fukuoka | 1 Dec: 7:04–17:10 22 Dec: 7:19–17:15 |
| Naha | 1 Dec: 6:59–17:37 22 Dec: 7:13–17:43 |
Source: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, sunrise and sunset tables for December 2026 (times in JST).
Tokyo’s sunset stays at 16:28 from 1 to 13 December and has only reached 16:37 by the 31st, while sunrise keeps getting later all month, to 6:50. The solstice falls at 05:50 JST on 22 December, when Tokyo has 9 hours 45 minutes between sunrise and sunset. In Tokyo, a garden that closes at 16:30 closes at about sunset.
Mt Fuji in December: the best month in a 35-year record
In Fuji City’s record of 8 a.m. observations over 35 years, 1991 to 2025, December has the highest visibility rate of any month: the mountain was fully or partly visible on 85% of December mornings, fully on 61.7% and partly on 23.2%.
Fully or partly visible on 85% of December mornings — Fuji City’s 8 a.m. log, 1991–2025.
The same report explains why it publishes the 8 a.m. figures: that is the time of day with the highest rate of full visibility. Go early. Fuji City watches from the southern, Shizuoka side, and its record is a long-run rate, not a forecast for your day; for that, the Mt Fuji weather page has today’s outlook.
Christmas and the New Year closures
Neither 24 nor 25 December is a public holiday in Japan: the Cabinet Office’s list for 2026 has no holiday at all in December, and this year they fall on a Thursday and a Friday. The fixed break is the New Year: under the law on the holidays of administrative bodies, government offices close from 29 December to 3 January. Private businesses set their own holiday hours.
Christmas does move one price on this page: the Tokyo Christmas Market charges adults ¥2,000 on 24 and 25 December, double its weekday rate. What shuts over the New Year, and for how long, is a guide of its own: the Japan New Year 2026-2027 closures calendar covers konbini, banks and shrines. The first shrine visit of the new year is explained in the hatsumode guide.
Japan in December: FAQ
Is December a good time to visit Japan?
Yes, for dry, bright days in Tokyo and Osaka and the year’s highest Mt Fuji visibility rate: Fuji City’s 35-year 8 a.m. record shows the mountain at least partly visible on 85% of December mornings. Kyoto’s surveyed hotels averaged about a quarter less per room in December 2025 than in November 2025; check 2026 prices for your dates. The trade-offs are short days, with a 16:28 sunset in Tokyo early in the month, and grey, snowy weather on the Sea of Japan side.
Does it snow in Tokyo in December?
Rarely. JMA’s 1991–2020 normal for Tokyo is 0 cm of December snowfall and 0.6 days with snow. Snow is normal in Sapporo (113 cm), Aomori (143 cm) and, in smaller amounts, Nagano and Kanazawa.
When does the Japan ski season start in 2026?
It depends on the resort. Karuizawa Prince opens on 31 October 2026, Sapporo Teine plans 21 November and Furano 28 November. Shiga Kogen’s shared lift ticket starts on 5 December, Naeba on 18 December, and GALA Yuzawa opens its pistes on 19 December after a sightseeing-only week.
Are there Christmas markets in Japan in December 2026?
Yes. The Tokyo Christmas Market runs at Shin-Toyosu from 20 November and at Shiba Park from 4 December, both to 25 December, with ticketed entry. In Sapporo, the Munich Christmas Market runs in Odori Park from 20 November to 25 December.
Is Christmas a public holiday in Japan?
No. The Cabinet Office’s 2026 holiday list has no holidays in December, so 24 and 25 December are working days. Government offices close from 29 December to 3 January.
What are some things to do in Japan in December 2026?
Chichibu Night Festival on 2–3 December, Kaomise kabuki at Kyoto’s Minamiza from 1 to 24 December, the Kasuga Wakamiya On-matsuri in Nara on 15–18 December, Hagoita-ichi at Sensoji on 17–19 December, the Christmas markets in Tokyo and Sapporo to 25 December, and the first weeks of the ski season.
Can I still see autumn leaves in Japan in December?
In the first week, in lowland Kyoto and Tokyo gardens. Eikando’s and Rikugien’s evening maple openings both end on 6 December 2026, and Kitano Tenmangu lists its maple garden as open to early December. Check the live koyo tracker for the week you travel.
Sources
The primary sources behind every figure above
- Japan Meteorological Agency, 1991–2020 monthly normals: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Naha, Kanazawa, Nagano, Aomori, Sapporo
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan: December 2026 sunrise and sunset for Tokyo, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Naha; 2026 almanac (solstice)
- Fuji City, Mt Fuji observation record, 1991–2025 (8 a.m. monthly table)
- Cabinet Office, national holidays 2026 and 2027; e-Gov, Act on the Holidays of Administrative Organs, Article 1
- Kyoto City Tourism Association monthly data: December 2025 and November 2025
- Events: Chichibu Tourism Association, Night Festival and its 2026 reserved-seat notice and B-seat sales, 10 October 2026; Tokyo Christmas Market, Shin-Toyosu and Shiba Park; Sapporo White Illumination; Kasuga Wakamiya On-matsuri; Sensoji annual events; Toji, Mieku and Kobo-ichi; Kitano Tenmangu; Eikando autumn 2026; Rikugien; Minamiza programme; NAHA Marathon; Kobe Luminarie
- Ski resorts, 2026-27: Karuizawa Prince, Snow Park Yeti, Sapporo Teine, Furano, Shiga Kogen, Naeba, GALA Yuzawa, Happo-one
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