Beating the Heat in Summertime Tokyo: Mountains, Islands, Water Sprinkling and More
Deep in the mountainous west of Tokyo, a stream breaks into white water in the valley of Okutama
Rafting down the upper Tama River is one way to beat the heat in summertime Tokyo
Water fountains outside Yurakucho Subway Station near Ginza—part of the city-run “Tokyowater Drinking Stations”
The “TOKYO Night & Light” projection mapping show using the front of Tokyo’s landmark city hall
Tokyo Yokujo in the south of central Tokyo, a typical public sento bathhouse with its exterior designed like a Buddhist temple
JAPAN, August 4, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Deep green mountains and breezy Pacific islands. Tokyo has them all and more. You don’t have to get away from the world’s largest metropolis to beat the heat.
Water sprinkling is another option, along with early morning and after-dark tourism, to make life easier and more fun for both dwellers and out-of-towners in the summer in the city.
The mercury has been hitting above 30 degrees Celsus (86F) in daytime in the Japanese capital since mid-June while foreign travelers kept arriving in record-high numbers.
For the second straight year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) is talking up “Futto-Kyo,” a term coined from futto (boiling) and Tokyo, to raise awareness of climate-linked temperature rises among the megacity’s 14 million residents.
“The summer is forecasted to be extremely hot again this year,” Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko told a news conference in early June. “We will certainly be calling on people to take measures against heat stroke,” she said, citing examples such as constant hydration, reliance on air-conditioners and use of parasols and caps.
Meanwhile, there’s no stopping the inbound tourism boom.
A record number of about 25 million foreigners visited Tokyo in 2024, up 27 percent from the previous year and up 63 percent from the pre-coronavirus year of 2019, according to TMG statistics. The Japan National Tourist Organization says the monthly total of foreign visitors to Japan at large has been renewing all-time highs this year.
”Tokyo has been refining its diverse attractiveness all alongside the traditional culture dating from Edo, rich nature, nighttime tourism, and globally popular anime as well as cuisine,” Governor Koike commented on the swelling number of foreign visitors. Edo was a stable and culturally flourishing period (1603-1868) ruled by Tokugawa shoguns.
Embraced in the Bosom of Nature
Here are tips on how best to beat the heat in Tokyo—from its mainland, which spans 90 km (56 miles) east to west, to its 11 civilian-inhabited islands spreading 1,000 km (600 miles) to the south in the Pacific along with desert isles and rocks.
Despite its imposing high-tech, high-rise image, Tokyo has unspoiled mountains and islands under its jurisdiction, where temperatures are a few degrees cooler than in much developed areas.
Nature lovers have easy access to great outdoor experiences in Okutama, Shinohara and other locations in the mountainous deep west of Tokyo. Okutama is more or less 60 km (40 miles) west of the city center and reachable in about two hours by train or car.
There are adventures galore in the western mountains: rafting down the rapids of the upper Tama River, meditation under waterfalls in Hinohara Village, trekking on the sacred Mount Mitake and more.
The average temperatures at a reservoir in Okutama were about 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) in July and August last year, roughly 4.0 degrees Celsius (7 degrees F) lower than in Tokyo’s urban center.
You can also take boats or fly to the southern Tokyo islands for a variety of marine sports including snorkeling and diving, and for trekking through lava-formed terrains including a black desert on Izu Oshima Island.
At the southern tip of the volcanic islands lies the Ogasawara/Bonin chain, which was designated a natural World Heritage Site in 2011 with plenty of unique subtropical fauna and flora. It offers rare chances of swimming with wild dolphins and watching whales such as migratory Humpbacks in springtime.
(Mountains and islands)
https://tamashima.tokyo/foreign/
(Outlying areas)
https://www.gotokyo.org/en/destinations/outlying-area/okutama-and-around/index.html
(Okutama)
https://www.gotokyo.org/en/travel-directory/result/index/keyword/okutama
(Tokyo islands)
https://www.gotokyo.org/en/travel-directory/result/index/keyword/islands
Water Not Only for Drinking
For comfort in everyday life, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) has been promoting the centuries-old custom of sprinkling water with a ladle or by hand near front doors and in gardens—to lay the dust and cool the dry ground.
The main business district of Marunouchi adjacent to the moated Imperial Palace has hosted a midsummer outdoor festival since 2005, featuring a water-sprinkling (uchimizu) event engaging dozens of participants.
Recycled water from office buildings in the district is sprayed around in line with global sustainability ideals. The event was held on July 25 and 26 this year with the TMG as a member of its organizing committee.
(Water sprinkling event)
https://www.marunouchi.com/en/pickup/event/6763/
As a matter of fact, drinking water and taking salt are crucial for preventing heat stroke. The TMG Bureau of Waterworks has designated water fountains in public places “Tokyowater Drinking Stations,” and operates mobile drinking fountains during events organized by the metropolitan government to serve Tokyo water to a wide range of people.
(Tokyowater Drinking Stations)
https://www.waterworks.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/kurashi/drinking_station
To provide information on measures against soaring temperatures, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has created “Tokyo Metropolitan Prevention map” online. They show where to find so-designated “heat stroke prevention centers” such as community centers and public libraries.
(Tokyo Metropolitan Prevention map)
https://map.bosai.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en.html?l=1351-0%2C1352-0&ll=35.69187929999999%2C139.389038&z=10
Enriched with clear groundwater and underflows, Tokyo is also home to 10 sake breweries, some of them dating from the shogun-ruled Edo period. The Tokyo Sake Brewers Association in Tachikawa, located in between the urban hot spots and the rural highlands, has a showroom for tasting and buying local rice wines.
(Tokyo Sake Brewers Association)
https://www.tokyosake.or.jp/en/
Markets at Dawn, Guinness-Listed Projection Mapping Shows
The TMG accepts participants in tours of central wholesale markets. They may observe auctions—for tuna at Toyosu, and for vegetables, fruits and flowers at Ota—and other activities early in the morning before the sun beats down on the waterfront marketplaces.
(Toyosu Market)
https://www.english.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/w/016-101-003992
(Ota Market)
https://www.o-2.jp/en/feature/202408_03_ootashijyo/
Stick around until after dark to immerse yourself in must-see nighttime attractions. Among them is the projection mapping show “TOKYO Night & Light,” which uses the wall of the main TMG building as its screen. Viewers gather at an open-air plaza at the foot of the twin-towered 48-story building located in the commercial and entertainment hub of Shinjuku.
The nightly show, recognized by the Guinness World Records™ as the “largest architectural projection-mapped display (permanent),” has attracted more than 750,000 visitors since its kickoff in February 2024. It has featured popular Japanese themes such as the movie monster Godzilla, traditional ukiyo-e paintings and woodprints, and the anime robot character Mobile Suit Gundam.
(TOKYO Night & Light)
https://tokyoprojectionmappingproject.jp/en/
Popular summer festivals in Tokyo go well into the cooler night hours like the Iriya Morning Glory Fair, which has a history of roughly two centuries. It is held between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. for three days in early July in an area close to the downtown shopping and cultural hubs of Ueno and Asakusa.
The Sumida River Fireworks Festival, claimed to have started in the early 18th century, is held on the last Saturday of every July. In 2023, the pyrotechnic extravaganza was resumed after a three-year Covid-19 pandemic break, drawing a record 1.03 million viewers as close as they could get to the downtown riverbank.
For a classic walk in the park to cool down, explore precious patches of greenery scattered across the bustling city center. The nine Tokyo Metropolitan Gardens, some of them former estates of historical significance, offer a variety of seasonal flowers, stone ponds, manicured landscapes and tea houses.
(Tokyo Metropolitan Gardens)
https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/teien/en/
https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/teien/en/download/pdf/tokyo_garden_english.pdf
Public Baths and Hot Springs Everywhere
After a hard day’s outing, you can always relax and stretch out in the hot bath nearest to you. Tokyo offers an abundance of “sento” public bathhouses, totaling more than 400, some of them spiked with medicinal herbs. Of the total, about 90 are existing as so-called “Tokyo-style sento” with their exterior appearance and design based on temple architecture that spread across Tokyo in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Utilizing the techniques of temple carpenters, they were built with the aim of cheering up Tokyo citizens toiling in the post-quake reconstruction. Blending technology and sophistication, they caught wide attention to become a hit in sento architecture in Tokyo.
(Public bathhouses)
https://www.1010.or.jp/english/
Even in the deep west mountains that rise about 1,000-2,000 meters (3,000-6,000 feet), hikers and climbers may take a well-earned dip in natural hot springs, either indoors or outdoors.
Hot springs also abound on the Pacific islands. On the small Shikine Island, a 140-minute high-speed ferry ride from mainland Tokyo, three natural hot springs bubble on rocky shores. Seawater lowers the hot spring temperatures from about 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees F). Mixed bathing is practiced in each hot spring, and wearing swimsuits is mandatory.
After a hot bath, cold noodles and shaved ice desserts may be much appreciated in the sweltering months. Somen, thin white flour noodles, are best served cold through a bamboo water slide in a playful dining experience called nagashi (flowing) somen. Guests have to catch water sliding noodles with chopsticks and dip them into cold soy-sauce broth before savoring this flavor of summer.
The ‘Best Big City in the World’
Governor Koike says her administration will work even harder to turn Tokyo into the “world’s best tourist city.” This year, the Japanese capital, which staged the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 1964 and 2021, is due to host the World Athletics Championships in September and the Deaflympics, a multisport competition for hearing impaired people, in November.
Last October, the leading U.S. lifestyle and travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler ranked Tokyo at the top of its “Best Big Cities in the World” list through readers’ votes for the sixth time, the first in three years.
Tokyo was trailed by Singapore, Sydney, Cape Town and Vienna on the 2024 ranking list of the magazine, which has about 3.5 million readers. U.S. cities were ranked on a separate list topped by Chicago for eight years in a row.
https://tokyotokyo.jp/news-and-topics/cntraveler-rca2024/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Noting the record surge in foreign visitors and the world No. 1 position, Governor Koike told a mid-June news conference: “Going forward, we will further refine the diverse attractiveness of Tokyo, create an environment that enables people from abroad to travel comfortably, and take other steps towards the goal of making Tokyo the world’s best tourist city.”
Strategic Public Relations Division, Office of the Governor
Strategic Public Relations Section
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