The weather varies across the island nation, with everything from long cold winters to mild summers and tropical cyclones

Japan may appear, geographically, to be a mirror-image of the British Isles – a group of islands on the edge of the vast Eurasian landmass – but climatically it is very different. Whereas Britain and Ireland have a maritime climate, influenced by the prevailing Atlantic airstream, Japan’s is far more extreme.

That said, the proximity of the sea does have some ameliorating influence. Compared with the adjacent mainland countries of Russia, North and South Korea, winters are milder and summers slightly less hot, and there is a lot more rain and snow.