Coming to Japan in June? The rainy season is our little secret

Ask almost anyone in Nagoya about June and you'll get the same little sigh. "Tsuyu," they'll say — the rainy season — the way you'd apologise for the weather before a guest even arrives.

Here's the thing, though. After years of guiding visitors through it, our team has quietly come to love this stretch of the year. So before you cross June off your calendar, let me make the case for it.

First, the honest part. On June 7 this year, the weather agency declared central Japan officially in tsuyu — almost exactly on its usual schedule. It tends to hang around until the middle or end of July. And Nagoya really does get wet: about 186 mm of rain falls here in June, one of the soggiest months on the calendar.

But "rainy season" is a bit of a trick of a name. It doesn't mean rain from morning to night. June still brings Nagoya around 150 hours of sunshine — often a bright, sticky morning, then a warm shower rolling through in the afternoon. You learn to read the sky and plan around it.

And then there's the reason we actually look forward to it: the green.

When the rain comes, central Japan turns almost unreasonably beautiful. Rice paddies fill up and shine like mirrors. Moss glows. The maple valley at Korankei — packed shoulder-to-shoulder every autumn — sits there in June soaked, deep green and almost empty. Shirakawa-go's thatched roofs look their oldest and most quiet under low cloud. And the hydrangeas — ajisai, the flower of this season — hit their peak in mid-June and, honestly, only ever look right when they're wet.

There's a practical bonus, too: fewer people, and easier bookings. Some of the best days we've shown guests have been the ones that started under an umbrella.

So if you do come, travel it like a local. Grab one of those clear plastic umbrellas from any convenience store — they're everywhere, and cheap. Trains run rain or shine, right on time. And keep an indoor card or two up your sleeve for the heavier afternoons: the Nagoya Port Aquarium and the car museums out toward Toyota are a genuinely good time when the sky opens up.

I won't oversell it. Late June is the wettest stretch, a mountain trail can turn to mud, and you'll want to stay flexible. But "rainy" and "ruined" are not the same word — not here. Come with a light umbrella and an open mind, and central Japan in the rain might just be the version you remember most.

Good to know

• Tsuyu 2026: central Japan entered the rainy season on June 7; it usually lifts around mid-to-late July.
• Pack: a light umbrella (or grab a konbini one on arrival), quick-dry layers, and shoes you don't mind getting a little wet.
• Beautiful in the rain, near Nagoya: Korankei's green valley, the forest paths of Atsuta Shrine, and — fully indoors — the Nagoya Port Aquarium.
• Hydrangea peak: mid-June, in gardens and temple grounds. Best enjoyed wet.

If you'd like a hand planning a few rainy-but-lovely days in central Japan, that's exactly what we're here for. See you out there — umbrella and all.