Tokyo's autumn leaves sorted into four kinds of place, with the order they usually turn, 2026 hours and fares, and what's missing this autumn: Koishikawa Korakuen's red Tsutenkyo bridge, dismantled for rebuilding.
Verified from the official 2026 pages: 17-18 Oct dates, all 26 participating floats, hikkawase explained, traffic and bus changes, fares and last trains - a UNESCO-listed festival 26 minutes from Ikebukuro.
The 2026 floor-maple opening runs 17 October to 30 November, at 800 yen in October and 1,200 in November. JNTO puts the temple in the wrong prefecture and the temple English page gets the illumination an hour wrong.
Two of Kamakura's best luck shrines share one wooded valley: wash your money at Zeniarai Benten, then climb the 49 torii to Sasuke Inari. Hours, offerings, legends and the walk — all verified against shrine sources.
Arashiyama, Nikko and Yabakei share a title nobody officially awarded. In 2026 their forecast peaks start more than four weeks apart — and one of them has no bus at the weekend.
Tsuki-no-Ishi Momiji Park in Nagatoro and Torii Kannon in Hanno have no English guide page. The illumination hours, the two fees, the weekend-only statue and the train that strands you — checked against the operators.
GREEN×EXPO 2027 opens 19 March 2027 at a Yokohama site with no station of its own. The four shuttle stations, ticket prices, the 18 September reservation date, and an honest go-wait-skip verdict.
Kichijoji is where a Paris boulangerie opened its first shop outside France, and it came with the brand first ever cafe upstairs. How to use it: order downstairs, carry it up, one order per person.
A Taiwanese teahouse on the second floor in Tokyo's Kichijoji, where set meals stop at 15:00 and the à la carte menu begins. Hours, the four-day week, prices from the menu I photographed, the one-person tea rule, and how to find the stairs.
Thirty-two timestamped photographs from one 23-minute evening walk through Shimokitazawa's vintage streets on 20 May 2026, checked against Odakyu, Keio, Setagaya City and the shopping-street associations: real price signs, the truth about the red roads, and why festival banners in May mean nothing.
Nearly every image on Hidden Japan Gems was photographed by me on a Sony α7 across five years of walking Japan; a few licensed photos fill the gaps. Please don't re-use my photos without permission — reach out if you'd like to.
For licensing, write to hello@hiddenjapan-gems.com