Autumn Color Report 2011

Three months after this year's first autumn color report from Hokkaido, I concluded the seasonal reporting with a grand tour to seven of Tokyo's best koyo spots. The capital's colors usually peak around late November and early... read all

Today I paid a visit to Kamakura, which is one of the last places in Japan where the leaves change colors. In a typical year the autumn colors (koyo) around Kamakura reach their peak from early to... read all

Today I returned to Tokyo to check out the autumn colors (koyo) at Rikugien, Koishikawa Korakuen, Hama Rikyu and the Icho Namiki... read all

The sun shining into fall foliage can enhance colors from nice to brilliant. Unfortunately, the sun did not cooperate during this year's final autumn color report from Kyoto on which I made a grand tour of many of... read all

The great ancient temples of Nara, such as Todaiji, Kofukuji and Yakushiji, are characterized by gravel courts and giant temple halls rather than... read all

As Kyoto remains at the peak of the autumn color season, I visited some lesser known koyo spots in the northeastern part of the city: Manshuin, Enkoji, Shinnyodo... read all

Today I headed over to Arashiyama on the outskirts of northwestern Kyoto to follow up on our autumn colors (koyo) reporting. It's been exactly a week since our... read all

Today we spent the morning in Kyoto checking up on a few autumn colors (koyo) sights that Schauwecker visited last week. We started the day with an early visit... read all

Today I headed back down to Tokyo to check on the progress of the autumn colors (koyo). The first stop of the day was Icho Namiki (Ginkgo Street) near the National... read all

One week after my last visit to Kyoto's Higashiyama District, I returned today to checked on the state of the fall leaves at Nanzenji,... read all

After nearly a week of reporting in the Kansai Region, I am returning home today to take a short break from the autumn colors. Along the way, I made a quick stop in Kanazawa for our first ever koyo report from... read all

I took another trip down to Tokyo today to continue our reporting on the autumn colors (koyo) in eastern Japan. A little progress has been made since my trip last week, however it is still very... read all

On this third Kyoto report within five days I re-visited Arashiyama in the northwestern outskirts of the city. In some spots in the district the trees have progressed into brilliant colors... read all

Miyajima Island just outside of Hiroshima is not Japan's most outstanding fall foliage spot, but it does offer a moderate amount of colors that are currently around their peak and can further enhance a visit to the shrine... read all

Today I visited multiple temples along the Higashiyama Mountains, starting at Tofukuji and ending at Eikando. The colors have not peaked yet at any of the temples,... read all

Due to the warm weather of the past weeks, the autumn colors in Kyoto are lagging about ten days behind their average schedule, which is an even greater delay than last year, when they were also delayed. I expect the season to peak... read all

Today I made our first official Autumn Color (koyo) report trip to Tokyo. As expected, it is still pretty early in the season and most of the trees around Tokyo haven't really begun to change colors yet. Although... read all

As the fall colors (koyo) are gradually descending into the lower elevations of central Japan, we made our first visit to Kyoto. The peak of the season in central Kyoto... read all

Today we visited Mount Unzen in Nagasaki Prefecture for our first autumn color (koyo) report of the season from Kyushu, Japan's southern-most main island. Mount Unzen... read all

Sakurayama Park in Fujioka City, Gunma Prefecture, is home to one of the world's largest concentration of winter flowering cherries, a defiant cherry tree variety that prefers to bloom in winter rather than spring... read all

At an elevation of roughly 1000 meters above sea level, the Fuji Five Lake (Fujigoko) region at Mount Fuji's northern base typically sees the seasonal foliage about three weeks earlier than... read all

Today we traveled out to Toyama Prefecture to check on the Kurobe Gorge, a steep, mountainous ravine that is a famous spot for its autumn colors (koyo). The main attraction of the gorge is the Kurobe... read all

Autumn colors are not expected to descend into central Tokyo until the second half of November; however, they do have started to appear in Tokyo's mountains. Today, we visited one of Tokyo's mountains, the nearly 1000 meter high... read all

Today I took a trip to Nikko to follow up on the progress of the autumn colors. So far this season I haven't really had the chance to see any good autumn colors (koyo), but looking at our last report from the area really reignited my... read all

This year's last autumn color report from the Tohoku Region comes from Lake Towada and Oirase Stream, a picturesque stream that flows out of the lake and down a... read all

On the first day of a 2-day autumn color trip to the northern Tohoku Region, we visited Mount Hakkoda (Hakkodasan), a volcano in Aomori Prefecture. The mountain lies along the road and JR bus line that connect Aomori City with Lake Towadako, from where we will... read all

Mount Bandai (Bandaisan) is a volcano in Fukushima Prefecture which last erupted in 1888 in one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in recent Japanese history, thereby newly shaping the mountain's peak and the Urabandai... read all

Located on the prefectural border between Yamagata and Miyagi Prefectures, Mount Zao is one of the highest mountains in the Tohoku Region, and therefore one of the first spots in the region to delight tourists... read all

The Naruko Gorge is one of the Tohoku Region's most famous autumn color spots and usually at its peak in late October to early November. It can be reached in a twenty minute walk from... read all

Nine days after my first visit, I returned to Nikko today to find the season to have progressed remarkably thanks to recent cold nights. The colors are now at their peak around... read all

Oze National Park is another good destination for early autumn colors near Tokyo. Shared mainly by Gunma and Fukushima Prefectures, the national park consists of a large marshland at 1400 meters... read all

Today we headed out to Nasudake, a dormant volcano in Tochigi Prefecture, at the northernmost end of Nikko National Park. The autumn colors (koyo) typically appear in the higher elevations of Nasudake around late September... read all

Nikko National Park is one of the first places near Tokyo to see autumn colors. And thanks to its wide range in elevation, Nikko offer colors for a long period of over a month. In the average year, the coloring... read all

Today we checked out Norikuradake in the Northern Japan Alps. Norikuradake is a collection of peaks, the highest of which is over 3000 meters tall, that straddle the border between Nagano and Gifu prefectures. It is... read all

Today I parked my car in Sounkyo, took a shuttle bus to Ginsendai and hiked from there via Mount Akadake and Mount Hokkaisan to Mount Kurodake before descending back into Sounkyo. Located on the eastern side of the... read all

Welcome to autumn 2011! Over the coming three months, the japan-guide.com team will take you again to autumn color spots across Japan and report on the leaves' current state. As always, we started reporting from... read all