I was in Tokyo late March early April this year and that definitely would meet your criteria temperature wise. I think there was one day with a little bit of rain in the 10 day period I was there. You have the added bonus of blossom time in the spring.

Personal preference I guess whether you like the spring or the fall, but to me spring is better.

Hi Maple, my family and I were also in Japan during April/March this year. The temperatures in Tokyo were equivalent to our Aussie winter...the wind in Tokyo was quite icy. The day that you probably experienced rain in Tokyo was the the day we were blessed with our first experience of snow in Nikko...snow in Spring ??

ahiruhachi, the Sakura (cherry blossoms) celebrations in the parks are lovely to see and Tokyo, if I recall correctly, was the first to bloom this year.

We also find Sept/october a pleasant time to travel to Japan and a little easier on the wallet as it is not 'high tourist' season...

Enjoy :-)

Thanks so much for the tips! I'd also heard that all d snow r starting to melt in april.. thus floors will be wet n dirty.. is that true? We wud like to avoid that if possible. Thanks again!

Snow melting in March or April applies to Hokkaido (northernmost island) and other higher mountain areas. The metropolitan cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, etc) either don't get snowed or would have no snow by March or April.

April is a fantastic time to visit due to the cherry blossom season.

Thanks for d tip! We will most probably travel by April then. Thanks all again!

Also endorse March/April. Chance to see cherry blossoms, not hot, not too cold, and no typhoons. The best season.

You can usually catch the cherry blossoms somewhere, as it takes about a month for the flowers to bloom from Kyushu to Hokkaido. They usually last for about a week in any one location.

Second choice would be November. Its still not too cold and typhoons have usually run their course by then.

Thanks Yamanote!

We wud very much like to see the cherry blossoms! Will most probably travel end of March as suggested! We wud also probably visit Kyoto for a day or two. Thanks again!

kyoto, hiroshima and tokyo are best during cherry blossom season (sakura) in April. It is a bit of hit or miss though. You never know in advance when they will bloom.

for more cherry blossom info., check this out:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_when.html

I am going to ask this here if that is ok. What time of year would be best is you can only travel mid June to end of August or the first week of November. We will have kids in high school at the time we want to travel so we can't pull them out

thanks for any guideance