Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Weather
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
View Poll Results: Land of the Rising Sun vs Land of the Long White Cloud
Nippon 42 57.53%
Aotearoa 31 42.47%
Voters: 73. You may not vote on this poll

Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-13-2012, 06:57 AM
 
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,606 posts, read 55,756,157 times
Reputation: 11862

Advertisements

Feel free to reference individual cities in your comparisons...

Yes I know both are very diverse...despite being modest in land area, they are both chains of long, thin islands that cover an impressive range of latitude (in Japan from about 32'N to 45'N, in New Zealand from 34'S to 46'S), in fact at very similar latitudes.

Both have a myriad of climates - wet, dry, warm, cold. The similarities are there: both have a mountainous spine, and vary from sub-tropical in the far south/north, to cool temperate almost sub-arctic in the far south. The west coasts and mountainous areas of each tend to be wetter. NZ has both wetter and drier climates (Japan has no equivalent to NZ's semi-arid zone).

...but there are generalities...

NZ has a more moderate seasonal range from summer to winter. Snow is rare on the coast except in the south of the South Island, and many stations have record lows barely colder than freezing. In Japan everywhere has decently cool or cold winters, with Hokkaido and northern and western Honshu experiencing heavy snow down to sea-level.

NZ is generally sunnier, except for some highland areas in the North Island, and the southern half of the South Island. Dunedin has sunshine figures comparable to Kanazawa.

NZ's weather seems more cyclical and dominated by frequent changes in weather, alternation between cyclones and anti-cyclones, while Japan is dominated by more stable systems (Siberian high/Aleut low in winter, monsoonal low in summer, varying interactions in autumn and spring).

Both include temperate climates, but Japan's is more of the continental type, while NZ's is more maritime/oceanic marine/mild to cool temperate.

Japan's summers tend to be hot and humid, while New Zealand's summers are comparably anemic. Wellington has some pretty shocking January highs. Even far southern Shikoku, at it's latitude, has some coral reefs I believe. Swimming would be far more pleasant in the waters off Japan.

I'd say NZ would be the more comfortable to live in, but Japan would be more interesting. Japan has more big cities that experience typhoons, blizzards (often in the same city), impressive warm season thunderstorms and on the west coast, winter storms. The only really weather phenomenon NZ has are the winter storms. Occasional big thunderstorms occur in the South Island in summer, but thunderdays are well below that experienced in Japan.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-13-2012, 11:12 AM
 
Location: New Jersey
15,317 posts, read 17,142,263 times
Reputation: 6959
Much of NZ has a very comfortable climate, especially the summers, but I'll go with Japan for the more variable weather.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-13-2012, 11:21 AM
 
Location: USA East Coast
4,429 posts, read 10,309,974 times
Reputation: 2157
Overall I would have to go with Japan – more precisely southern Japan.

Once you get far enough south, stations like Osaka are fairly mild in the winter months (Jan mean temp 40 F/6 C)...and the summers are much warmer than just about anywhere in New Zealand I would guess. I think a place like Osaka would be close to 10 F warmer in the summer months than a station like Auckland or Wellington. If sun hrs where higher in southern Japan it would be even nicer, though sun hrs in both counties are low compared to other parts of the world it seems.

Also, I like the occasional brush with the tropical cyclones that southern Japan gets, it adds to weather drama it seems.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-13-2012, 11:31 AM
 
Location: In transition
10,635 posts, read 16,586,994 times
Reputation: 5242
NZ hands down. Japan has some truly horrendous climates like Sapporo and Asahikawa that NZ doesn't have. Winters are much milder for the latitude especially in the temperate areas which is very important for me.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-13-2012, 11:37 AM
 
Location: Leeds, UK
22,139 posts, read 29,445,916 times
Reputation: 8819
Japan, for the variety and snow. New Zealand isn't all too different from here and I don't really appreciate that!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-13-2012, 01:21 PM
 
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
2,678 posts, read 5,041,272 times
Reputation: 1592
Quote:
Originally Posted by wavehunter007 View Post
I think a place like Osaka would be close to 10 F warmer in the summer months than a station like Auckland or Wellington.
Try 20 F. 22 F in the case of Wellington.

There's simply no comparison in terms of summer warmth.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-13-2012, 01:26 PM
 
Location: Wellington and North of South
5,069 posts, read 8,554,835 times
Reputation: 2658
Quote:
Originally Posted by dunno what to put here View Post
Japan, for the variety and snow. New Zealand isn't all too different from here and I don't really appreciate that!
I take issue with that! All of NZ is much sunnier than your locale, by up to 1100+ hours.

Both countries are so variable that a blanket comparison is pointless in my view. But from a general standpoint Japan's extremes and cloudy humidity have no appeal at all to me. As for Osaka, with all that sticky summer heat combined with less sun and more rain than Wellington - let alone some other NZ towns - you're welcome to it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-13-2012, 01:46 PM
 
Location: Leeds, UK
22,139 posts, read 29,445,916 times
Reputation: 8819
I'm not really bothered about sunshine though - Japan offers more variability and has places such as Sapporo which are more or less perfect to me
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-13-2012, 03:03 PM
 
Location: Toronto
3,295 posts, read 6,986,330 times
Reputation: 2424
It's also an interesting coincidence that Japan and New Zealand happen to not only span almost the same latitudes from the equator, but I've noticed the actual shape of the country looks vaguely alike too (though your impression might vary). Geographically, they are also on the ring of fire and prone to earthquakes.

It's kind of ironic that New Zealand would be sunnier and it's got "cloud" in the nickname for its land, while Japan is cloudier and has "sun" in its land's nickname...lol.

When it comes to climate, I'd prefer most of the Koppen Cfa-category, or more southerly climates in Japan for a consistent summer season, for although it often has cooler winter climates than NZ, it gets more reliable heat. However, if it was northern Japan where it would be freezing for a few months and close to the continental climates I'm familiar with, I'd take NZ's climates over it. The climates I'd like best in either country would be those that maximize consistent summer warmth as well as length of summer, with mild winter also being somewhat important.

In short, if I were to pick based on liking any particular climate type in the country, I'd like the warmer parts of either country and go with Japan's warmer parts for reliable summer heat. While if I were to pick based on overall climates of the countries as a whole, it would be more close/a toss up. In the poll, I picked Japan.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-13-2012, 04:59 PM
 
Location: Perth, Western Australia
3,190 posts, read 4,562,090 times
Reputation: 2394
Japan's climate has much more seasonal variety which gives it the edge over NZ. Major population centres in NZ don't see much snow in winter or heat in the summer, too temperate, its comfortable but a bit samey.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Weather
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top