Blog › 2026-10-03

The month with the fewest foreign visitors depends on where you're going

A summary of an issue of the Japan Off-Peak newsletter. Read the full issue, with method and caveats.

Japan has no single off-season. Counted per day, the month with the fewest foreign hotel guests was August in 13 prefectures, February in 7, and January, July and September in 5–6 each.
Ski country runs backwards: in Nagano, January had 4.4 times as many foreign visitors per day as August, but August is Nagano's busiest month overall because of Japanese travellers.
Kyoto's city hotels were 61.8% occupied in January 2025 and 89.4% in October.
Tochigi, Fukushima, Mie and Gunma are mid-sized destinations where fewer than one guest in 20 is from abroad.

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