気候・服装・訪問時期

10.—Climate; Dress; Time of Visit. Remember that Japan is not in the tropics, and bring warm clothing with you, whatever be the season of your visit; also very light clothing, if your visit be in the summer. Even in July, when the mean temperature of Tōkyō is about 76° Fahrenheit, days may come when you will be glad of all your winter things. This applies still more to the mountains. On the other hand, be more careful of exposing yourself to the sun than you would be in England. Japan is not 20° nearer the tropics for nothing. A sun helmet and a white umbrella are useful additions to the traveller’s wardrobe.

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Though clothes of the roughest description will suffice for the country districts, bring something better—something such as might be worn at home—in which to appear at the larger hotels, and to mix, if need be, in Tōkyō or Yokohama society, whether Japanese or foreign. With regard to boots, it is advisable to wear such as can be pulled off and on easily, as it is necessary to remove one’s boots every time one enters a house or temple, in order not to soil the mats on which the Japanese sit. Grave offence is given, and naturally given, by the disregard of this

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custom. Light shoes or boots with elastic sides are therefore to be preferred, except for mountain work. If your boots give out, try the native straw sandals (waraji) with the native sock (tabi). Many foreigners have found them excellent foot-gear, the only addition required being a small piece of cotton-wool to prevent chafing by the thong which passes between the great and the second toe. Boots barely holding together can be made to last a day or two longer by tying waraji underneath them.

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Roughly speaking, the Japanese summer and early autumn are hot and wet; the late autumn and early winter cool, dry, and delightful; February and March disagreeable, with occasional snow and dirty weather, which is all the more keenly felt in Japanese inns devoid of fire-places; the late spring rainy and windy, with beautiful days interspersed. The average temperature of January, which is the coldest month, is between 36° and 37° Fahrenheit at Tōkyō; but there are frequent frosts at night during five months of the year, namely, from November to March inclusive. Skating is rare in Tōkyō.

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The climate of Northern Japan from Sendai onwards is much colder in winter, though not appreciably cooler during July and August. A similar remark applies even more forcibly to the entire West coast, which is exposed to icy winds blowing direct from Siberia. Each traveller must judge for himself from the above remarks which season to select for his tour. If possible, he should be either in Tōkyō or in Kyōto during the first week in April to see the magnificent display of cherry-blossoms, which are followed throughout the early summer by other flowers—peonies, azaleas, wistarias, irises—well-worth seeing, both for their own sake and for that of the picturesque crowds of Japanese sightseers whom they attract.

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If not able to visit Kyōto early in April, he should try to be there at the end of October or early in November, when the autumn leaves are in all their glory of red and gold. Tōkyō is less favoured in this respect, but the chrysanthemums there early in November are magnificent. The summer may most advantageously be devoted to Nikkō, Miyanoshita, Arima, or Unzen, or to travelling in Yezo and in the high mountainous districts of the interior of the Main Island, which are practically inaccessible except between June and October. Fuji can only be ascended during the hottest period of summer.

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