I do not advise you to go to Japan for the May holidays. At the end of April — beginning of May there is “Golden Week” – “golden week”, when national holidays go 6 days in a row.
At this time, the whole country has a weekend and everyone is going to travel. Train tickets are sold out, housing is getting more expensive, and there are crowds in temples, parks and museums.
Summer is also not the best time to travel. It rains in Japan in June, and then tropical heat until September. It’s good to go in May right after the “golden week”: at this time, domestic tourism is declining, because everyone is returning to work. There are fewer tourists, prices are lower everywhere. If I were planning a trip again, I would go in the middle of May.
If you want to see the cherry blossoms, then plan a trip for the end of March — beginning of April, but keep in mind that at this time there is also a tourist rush in the country. In Japan, there is a forecast of cherry blossoms by region, you can see how cherry blossoms bloomed in 2018, and plan a trip for about the same dates next year. In October and early November in Japan, “momiji” is the season of red maple leaves. There is also a calendar for momiji.
