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Situated northeast of the monsoon track that fuels the heavy rains across southeast China, the Japanese islands experience a relatively mild maritime climate. Except for Hokkaido and the subtropical Okinawa region, the weather is mostly temperate, with four seasons. Each season has its own distinct characteristics, emphasized by an early summer rainy season affecting many areas, and a typhoon season that runs from July through September. Hot, moisture-laden southeasterly winds blow across the islands from the Pacific in summer. Cold, northwesterly winds originating in Central Asia bring winter weather to Japan from Korea and China.
Though dominated by the maritime Pacific air mass, Japan has a diverse climatic range from north to south and mild, sunny weather can be found somewhere in the country at almost any time of year. Broadly speaking, there are four main climatic regions in Japan: the Pacific coastal region, which has a high summer rainfall; the Japan Sea coastal region, with its heavy winter snows and low temperatures; the inland region, where rainfall is generally lower; and the subtropical to tropical climate of the Ryukyu Island chain. Despite this general pattern however, the archipelago stretches over a vast distance from north to south and has so many mountain ranges that climatic conditions vary a great deal from season to season and from place to place.
Down the length of the japanese island chain, temperatures range from cold-temperate to tropical. Wakkanai, a city on the northern end of Hokkaido, has an average annual temperature of 6°C (44°F). Situated on the Kansai Plain on the Pacific side of the island of Honshu, Tokyo has an average annual temperature of 15°C (59°F). On the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands, the city of Naha has an annual average temperature of 22°C (73°F).
While generally rainy and humid most of the year, Japan's month-long wet season from June to July brings the heaviest rainfall to most parts of the country. The frequent rainfall combines with warm temperatures to keep the islands in the tropical and subtropical regions green throughout the year. The city of Hiroshima, in western Honshu, averages a sizeable 1,603 mm (63.1 in) of rain each year. Tokyo, further east near the Pacific, receives an annual average rainfall of 1,460 mm (57.5 in). The city of Sapporo, on Hokkaido, averages 1,158 mm (45.6 in) of precipitation per year. The southern end of the Kii Peninsula is known for a heavy annual rainfall exceeding 4,000 mm (157.5 in).
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