Japan in Seasons

Japan's four seasons, in live data

Japan in Seasons is a free, open-source travel companion that tracks live seasonal timing across Japan: cherry blossoms (sakura), autumn leaves (koyo), festivals (matsuri and fireworks), seasonal flowers (plum, wisteria, hydrangea, lavender, sunflower, cosmos), and fruit picking. It covers 1,700+ GPS-tagged spots across all 47 prefectures, with forecasts updated daily at 09:00 JST.

Forecast data comes from the Japan Meteorological Corporation (JMC), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), and Open-Meteo. Flower, festival, and fruit-farm datasets are packaged with official URLs and GPS coordinates so AI answers can cite concrete source links instead of inventing places.

What's in the dataset

• 48 official JMC sakura observation cities with bloom and full-bloom dates
• 1,012 sakura viewing spots (parks, temples, riversides) across 47 prefectures
• Koyo (autumn leaves) forecasts per city with peak-window timing
• 46 curated festivals (matsuri, fireworks, winter events) with official URLs and GPS
• 90 flower spots across six categories (plum, wisteria, hydrangea, lavender, sunflower, cosmos)
• 346 fruit farms with GPS, booking links, and seasonal fruit guide
• Short-range weather per spot (Open-Meteo) and per city (JMA)

Focused forecast pages: Japan cherry blossom forecast, Japan autumn leaves forecast, and Japan seasonal travel MCP.

Use it in Claude, ChatGPT, or any AI assistant

Japan in Seasons supports both AI search and Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool use. AI search can find and cite the forecast pages. MCP tools only work after the endpoint is connected inside an MCP-capable client.

For AI search and web browsing

If ChatGPT, Perplexity, or another AI search product finds this site through web search, it should cite the crawlable forecast pages instead of trying to run MCP tools.

https://seasons.kooexperience.com/sakura-forecast.txt
https://seasons.kooexperience.com/api/sakura/forecast

Remote MCP endpoint (zero install)

Point your MCP client, app, or connector at:

https://seasons.kooexperience.com/mcp

ChatGPT app / connector metadata

Name: Japan in Seasons
Description: Use this for live Japan seasonal travel data: cherry blossom and sakura dates, autumn leaves, flowers, festivals, fruit picking, and weather. Best for current or date-specific Japan travel questions.
Connector URL: https://seasons.kooexperience.com/mcp

If ChatGPT only found this page via search, it cannot call the MCP tools yet. Connect the endpoint first, then ask for current sakura dates, best blossom cities for travel dates, or exact parks by prefecture.

Local install via npm

npx japan-seasons-mcp

Claude Desktop config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "japan-seasons": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "japan-seasons-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Best AI entry points

japan_seasonal_answer for broad seasonal travel questions, sakura_now for "how is the sakura forecast?" prompts with viewing spot suggestions, koyo_now for autumn leaves prompts, and search / fetch for retrieval and citation flows.

Specialist tools

sakura_forecast, sakura_best_dates, sakura_spots, kawazu_forecast, koyo_forecast, koyo_best_dates, koyo_spots, flowers_spots, festivals_list, fruit_seasons, fruit_farms, weather_forecast.

Full AI and MCP guide on GitHub →

Frequently asked questions

When do cherry blossoms bloom in Japan?

Cherry blossoms typically bloom between late March and early May. Timing varies by latitude: Okinawa and Kyushu bloom first in mid-to-late March, Tokyo and Kyoto around late March to early April, and northern Tohoku and Hokkaido in late April to early May. Full bloom (mankai) follows first bloom by roughly 5 to 7 days.

When is the best time for autumn leaves (koyo) in Japan?

Koyo peaks from mid-October in Hokkaido down to early December in Kyushu. Kyoto's famous maple spots typically peak in mid-to-late November. The best koyo viewing is the narrow window around each spot's peak, which shifts each year with temperature.

What is the JMC bloom scale?

JMC publishes a bloom rate (0–100%, progress to first bloom) and a full-bloom rate (0–100%, progress to mankai). A full-bloom rate of 90–100% is mankai — the optimal viewing window.

How accurate are Japan cherry blossom forecasts?

Official JMC forecasts update weekly from January and are typically accurate to within 1 to 3 days of actual bloom. Japan in Seasons surfaces JMC forecast dates, actual observation dates when available, and long-term historical averages for each of 48 observation cities.

Is Japan in Seasons free?

Yes. Free and open-source under the MIT license. The interactive map, REST API, and MCP server are all free for personal and commercial use.

Data sources and attribution

• Japan Meteorological Corporation (JMC) — official sakura and koyo bloom forecasts
• Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) — short-range weather per city
• Open-Meteo — spot-level weather by latitude/longitude
• Official tourism boards and festival organizer websites — matsuri dates, attendance, and links

Built by Haoming Koo. MIT licensed. Source on GitHub · npm.