Japan Photo Guide

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 brillant red in the fall. These red leaves are reffered to as “koyo” (紅葉) in Japanese. 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. If you want to find a different site, simply go do a google search for “紅葉” followed by the year (紅葉 2006) and you will get more sites in Japanese. The photo below was taken at Kinkakuji in Kyoto.

Below is a tentative schedule for Koyo in Japan for Fuji Five Lakes, Hokkaido, Hakone, Kansai, Kanto, Kyoto, Kyushu, Nikko, Shikoku, Tohoku and Tokyo; however, depending on the weather, these dates tend to change from year to year. The bulleted list below are places I have been to and personally recommend for the fall season.

• Arashiyama
• Fuji Five Lakes
• Kyoto
• Naruko (Tohoku)
• Nikko
• Tokyo

Shikoku (四国) is an oft-forgotten island in Japan. The smallest of Japan’s Big Four, it lies to the south of Honshu. The island is thought of as a rural backwater, with few must-see attractions, but a visit there can wash away those doubts; particularly the mountainous inner regions offer some good hiking and a glimpse of the elusive Real Japan. It is also the home of the 88 Temple Pilgrimage of the Shingon sect of Buddhism.

The Shikoku region — comprising Shikoku and its surrounding islets — covers about 18,800 km² and consists of four prefectures: Ehime, Kagawa, Kochi, and Tokushima.

The following are places worth photographing/traveling to:

–Cape Ashizuri — a scenic cape at the southernmost point of Shikoku
–Dogo Onsen — Japan’s oldest hot spring
–Iya Valley — a remote but beautiful mountain valley
–Kotohira — the site of the Kompira-san shrine
–Mount Ishizuchi — the tallest peak in Shikoku

For more information please see wikipedia or Japan-Guide.com.