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On paper, I'd pick Maebashi, for its milder summers.
However, having spent a few days in Tokyo in August, I'm inclined to go with Raleigh.
Japan has implemented "Setsuden" since the 2011 earthquake to conserve power. This makes it so there's not much AC in buildings and it is extremely uncomfortable. I honestly felt like I could not cool off anywhere when I was in Tokyo, except for when I took a shower. When I went to Singapore afterwards, it felt cool to me, due to more prevalent AC.
Yup, I traveled to Maebashi I want to say from May to July 2005 (I got pics of my time on my IG which my username is my username on here). I had Japanese ex I met in college and I went to see her family for the summer. Had a blast. We traveled to Tokyo several ties (even went to Tokyo Disneyland). I think I know what you're talking about with that AC thing. From what I remember, Tokyo didn't seem super hot at least the summer I was there but it been so long ago lol. I think because it was cloudy that day anyway there (except when we went to Disneyland). When we travelled to Tochigi and while I was in Maebashi, I do remember pretty hot days there. The humidity didn't seem too bad though. As for the showers in Japan, their shower/bath rooms were getting used to though, very different from American bathrooms. I personally found them a hassle but maybe because I wasn't there long enough to get used to them.
But Raleigh for the higher sunshine hours and for being a bit drier.
Yeah, they both meh to me but I'm more a warm-year round weather person anyway. Maebashi, on paper is wetter but they get most their rain in the middle of the year. Winters are dry there. Quite a bit of Eastern Asia has that pattern, wet and dry seasons in temperate climates. Raleigh has their precip spread out.
Yeah, Maebashi winters are stable than Raleigh's even though it's cooler on average. I remember seeing more rich vegetation there that stays green all winter in Gunma than here in Piedmont NC. Raleigh has hotter and more humid summers but winter here can get colder due to arctic oscillation. Japan is surrounded by water and the cold temperatures are more moderated than here.
Climatologically it's pretty much a tossup. They both suck equally hard. I picked Maebashi just cuz it's cloudier. Also Japan is just awesome.
Yeah I loved JP when I was out there many yrs back. They classify them as humid subtropical climates but the winters are too chilly imo to be subtropical - I will say they are more "warm temperate" than subtropical. Our climate does have significant subtropical characteristics but Raleigh's winter nights prior to March are at freezing or below - hard freezes are standard here.
Maebashi, because the snow is in the hills close by, and I can probably take a bus or train to get there without having to deal with traffic. From Raleigh, you have to drive at least 2 hours on 40 to see decent snow. And with all the construction, trucks, and wannabe nascar drivers, it’s too much stress just to go see a good blanket of snow.
As a side note, I also like bento box .
This.
And both of these climates are not ideal but still decent. Maebashi because of this and that it's slightly cooler and probably the same good amount of sunshine when you consider the digital sun recorder exaggerates US sunshine totals. Raleigh is better than I thought though the winters are on the mild side and summers hot and humid for both of these cities. They are very similar almost identical.
Here are two medium sized cities that are fairly close in latitude that are classified being in the humid subtropical zone (Cfa both under Koppen and Trewartha). I live in Raleigh (35.78° N) currently and I have traveled to Maebashi, Japan (36.39° N) for a summer while attending college at UNC Charlotte in 2005. Here the figures, more information is recorded for Raleigh than Maebashi as you can see.
Maebashi, Gunma, Japan
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
As you can see, temperature averages are marginally cooler in all seasons in Maebashi than Raleigh. Annual precipitation amounts are fairly close with a 5 inch difference (43.3" in Raleigh and 48.6 in Maebashi) BUT most of Maebashi's rain falls in the late spring and summer (May to October) but way drier in the winter than Raleigh (due to the "karakaze", or a dry wind blows in from the north through the city). Maebashi also gets less snow on average.
I also notice that the record lows for Raleigh, NC (-9F) are lower than Maebashi (11F). Also, when you look at the plant hardiness maps, Raleigh is located in hardiness zone 8a (or said to be borderline 7b/8a depending where in the Raleigh-Durham metro you are) with annual mean minimum temps in the low to mid teens in most years and sometimes in the single digits. Maebashi is located in hardiness zone 9a where it doesn't go below 20F in the vast majority of years. This implies more stable winters in Japan than in the Southeastern US. Raleigh is slightly warmer but it's a toss up to me because our winters are not stable and it can get colder here on certain days than Maebashi's coldest day of the winter.
The second half of your last sentence is irrelevant - plant hardiness zones from the USDA are useless compared internationally. Japan has its own plant hardiness classifications.
Records just don’t mean much here. The average highs, mean maximums, and the record highs tell me a much warmer, more subtropical climate and environment in Raleigh than in Maebashi.
Average lows are warmer - on top of that, mean minimums, and especially record lows, mean nothing to me considering they’re felt during the shorter part of the day - at night or early morning, when everyone is asleep.
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