2012/11/27 - Autumn Color Report: Tokyo
by scott
Shinjuku Gyoen
Another week has passed since Schauwecker made our last autumn color report from Tokyo, so today I headed back down to the city to revisit some of last week's sites. Quite a bit of progress has been made over the last six days and the trees were really beginning to show some nice colors.
My first stop of the day was to the Ginkgo Avenue (Icho Namiki) near Aoyama-Icchome Subway Station. The ginkgo trees that line the approach to National Stadium have further improved since last week and the majority of trees now look to be at or approaching their peak.
Icho Namiki
Under the trees
Approaching the peak
Early morning sun
The carpet of golden leaves added a little extra atmosphere
After checking out the ginkgoes I continued walking past the National Stadium and headed to nearby Shinjuku Gyoen. Since last week the maple trees around the park's Japanese Garden have really begun to show some nice color, and some of the more exposed trees have already reached vibrant shades of red and orange. It was still early though, as the maples in this part of the park were only beginning to approach their peak.
Shinjuku Gyoen's Japanese Garden
Nice red maples
Beautiful colors are appearing all around the garden
The maple trees around Momijiyama (Maple Mountain), on the other hand, were a little bit behind those around the Japanese Garden. There were several individual trees that were showing nice colors, especially along the edges of the pond, but as a whole the area was still in the early stages of changing. The more sheltered trees were, in fact, still very green.
Momijiyama
Green sheltered trees
Maple Canal
The cherry trees around Shinjuku Gyoen have pretty much peaked and have moved on to dropping their leaves. They were still quite attractive today, but will soon risk being overshadowed by the autumn season's more brilliant trees.
Cherry trees
Cherry trees near the Sendagaya Gate
My final stop today was to Koishikawa Korakuen, a crowd favorite and one of Tokyo's best landscape gardens. The maple trees that surround the park's large central pond have improved quite a bit since last week, and many of them were approaching their peak today. The garden was definitely the highlight of the day and Koishikawa Korakuen should reach its overall peak pretty soon.
Koishikawa Korakuen
Maple trees approaching their peak
Autumn leaves on the water
Lots of school groups were around today
One of the best spots around the pond
Almost peak colors
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