Alpine Route: Peak Colors

About a week ago, Schauwecker did our first 2025 autumn color report from Daisetsuzan in Hokkaido. Today, I made my way to Murodo, the tallest point along the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and also one of the first few places in Japan to see the seasonal foliage, to see how the colors were faring. I found the colors at Murodo, which is located at 2450 meters, to be at their peak, while the colors a few hundred meters below were just starting to change. Below the 1500 meter level, everything was still green and it would probably be a few more weeks before the colors reach that elevation.

Located at 2450 meters, Murodo is the tallest point on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. It took me about 1.5 hours to get to there from Ogizawa on the Nagano side of the route, which involved taking a variety of transport like electric buses, ropeway and cable car. I arrived to the blazing orange and red foliage along the mountain slopes, which looked amazing under the blue skies. I expect the colors to remain at their best for the rest of this week and possibly into next week.

Moving down from Murodo, the Tateyama Ropeway is the longest single span ropeway in Japan and it traverses the 1800-2300 meter elevation. I found the colors around the upper station of the ropeway to be similar to Murodo, but were just starting to change below the 2000 meter mark.

Kurobe Dam at 1450 meters was my last spot for the day, and all the leaves that change color were still decidedly green. It is safe to say that it is only a matter of time before the autumn colors reach the lower elevations.