Japan Photo Guide » autumn

Fall Leaves Forecast for Japan 2008

babibubebo — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:39:15 +0000

My favorite season is coming back! Even though I love cherry blossom season, in my opinion autumn is the best time to visit and travel around Japan. Below is a chart for the average dates to best observe fall leaves in Japan.

Along with cherry blossom season, fall is a great time to visit Japan. In any country, fall leaves are beautiful and make for great photos and this holds especially true with Japan. Japan’s most famous fall leaf is the Japanese Maple Tree which turns brilliant red in the fall. These red leaves are referred to as “kouyou” (紅葉) in Japanese.

Read more about fall in Japan and check out some of my favorite places to see the autumn foliage after the jump.

The photo on the left was taken at The Itchiku Kubota Kimono Museum and the one on the right on the grounds of the Golden Pavilion.

There are many sites in Japanese that give more detailed information, I cannot read Japanese very well, but even so, there are some sites that are very helpful. For example rurubu.com has a map of Japan and a small color picture of a maple leaf to represent the current status of the leaves in the area. Another site worth checking out is Yahoo Japan’s site that looks like it encourages user submissions. If you want to find a different site, simply go do a google search for “紅葉” followed by the year (紅葉 2008) and you will get more sites in Japanese. The photo below was taken at Kinkakuji in Kyoto.

The bulleted list below are places I have been to and personally recommend for the fall season.

Jojakoji

babibubebo — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:23:28 +0000

Jojakoji is one of my favorite places in Arashiyama. It is a fairly large temple that is built up into a mountain and is just brilliant during the fall. Seriously, this temple has some of the best autumn foliage in Japan. So of course, the best time to go is during the autumn season but anytime of the year is worth checking out Jojakoji. Jojakoji is about a 15 minute walk from JR Saga Arashiyama Station or Keifuku Arashiyama Station and about a 5 minute walk from the bamboo groves.

From around Keifuku Arashiyama or the Togetsukyo Bridge you can take a rickshaw ride that will take you through the bamboo groves and ends at Jojakoji. For a map of where it is located check out the Japan-Guide.

Kokedera (Moss Garden Temple)

babibubebo — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 14:17:57 +0000

Kokedera (Moss Garden) in Kyoto is home to 22 different kinds of moss. Basically it is a garden where moss is covering most of the ground. It is believed to be the first designed garden with moss in Japan. I went during the fall and the autumn leaves were especially beautiful situated against the mostly green moss garden. I have been told that summer, during the rainy season, is a nice time to visit as the sunlight does wonders to the beads of water on the moss…that is of course, assuming it is not raining while you visit.

Of course like most places in Japan, fall is also a lovely time to go. The admission fee is a little steep (3000 yen and you NEED a reservation which should be made as early as possible due to the high demand of visitors) and while I thought it was worth it, I think I will not go again. That being said, I would be lying if I told you that I think you will be disappointed if you go, because it is a very beautiful and relaxing place.

Finding contact and access information has been a little hard on the internet for some reason, but I will post more information when I have it. In the meantime here are some telephone numbers (maybe they can speak English).

615.8286 (from Japan)

81(0)75.391.3631 (from outside of Japan)

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