Tokyo: Peak Colors

In mid September, about three months ago, we posted our first 2023 autumn color report from Daisetsuzan in Hokkaido, and today's Tokyo report will be our last koyo report for the year. Over the three months, we visited some popular fall color spots in the country like Kyoto, Nikko and the Fuji Five Lakes region. This year's autumn colors may not have been the best due to high temperatures over an extended summer, but they were still attractive nonetheless.

The autumn colors in Tokyo tend to be at their best starting from the end of November through to early December, and they were approaching their peak as Schauwecker reported on his visit to the capital city a week ago. Today, the spots I visited were safely in their peak, and I expect the best viewing to continue through this week and possibly into mid December.

Sneaking in a small visit to Yokohama in a Tokyo report, I visited Sankeien Garden to check out the colors in the nice Japanese landscape garden. Sankeien was built by a businessman who grew his wealth in the silk industry and who was instrumental in the development of Yokohama as a culture hub. Today, the expansive and spacious garden is home to many historical buildings, some of which can be entered. The garden is illuminated on Fridays to Sundays during the autumn color season, and this Friday to Sunday, December 8-10 will be the last weekend to see the trees in the garden lit up. The illumination event starts from sunset to 19:30 (entry until 19:00). I expect the autumn colors to remain nice till the end of this week and possibly into next week.

From Yokohama, I returned to Tokyo and made for Rikugien Garden not far from Komagome Station on the JR Yamanote Line. The nice Japanese landscape garden, while smaller compared to Sankeien, did not disappoint in terms of fall colors. I found the leaves here to be at their best, and expect the best viewing to continue till the end of this week and possibly into next week.

Finally, I headed to the ever popular Icho Namiki, also known as Ginkgo Avenue, in Aoyama to complete my Tokyo autumn color round up. The ginkgo tree lined road was illuminated in the evenings until December 3, which meant that I missed the evening light up by just one day. However, the avenue was still relatively crowded with autumn color chasers, and the regular street lights illuminated the trees and leaves. All the leaves were a lovely shade of gold when I was there, and some of the trees had already started shedding their leaves. However, there were still sufficient leaves on the trees to consider the autumn season here to still be at the peak, and the colors to be at their best viewing and remain so till the end of the week.

That's it for our autumn color reports in 2023. See you all in three months when we start chasing the cherry blossoms!