[Euro Cruiser]

I researched this recently as my son stands a chance of being stationed on Guam. A read thru Cornell's _World Cruising Routes_ gave me one answer; there simply is no certain season when the risk of typhoons is absent. Moreover, as Mark points out there are limited ways to obtain protection. I also corresponded with a small number of folks who've cruised in Guam waters and, while it may be a biased sample, every one of them suffered storm damage while based there.

Japan's season does not appear to be any shorter than that of N Europe, where sailing is a huge past-time. However, the weather is less attractive (lots of fog and no Gulf Stream to influence temps and steer lows to the N) and, again, the non-storm season is very short. How tough it is to reach Japan depends on where you are coming from and in which months; you can make it less of a windward trek if you're willing to accept more exposure to storms...altho' what a choice.

Jack