autumn leaves

Location, Chubu, Seasonal Travel, Yamanashi

Lake Yamanaka Autumn Leaves Festival 2026: Dates, Light-Up Hours & Local Tips

A wooden pavilion under a blazing canopy of red, orange and yellow maple trees at Asahigaoka Lakeside Green Park during the Lake Yamanaka autumn leaves festival, fallen leaves carpeting the ground.

Planned dates 30 Oct-15 Nov 2026, nightly light-up 16:30-20:30, and how to arrive by bus from Shinjuku - with my own full-colour photos from the lakeshore.

Nobu
September 20, 2026

Seasonal Travel, Travel Tips

Who Actually Forecasts Japan’s Autumn Colours (and Why the Government Stopped)

The alpine basin at Murodo on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route: a ridge streaked with old snow above slopes of gold and rust-coloured alpine scrub, a dark tarn ringed with boulders in the foreground, under a clear sky.

Japan has had no government autumn forecast since 2008, and it only ever covered Kanto. Every date you read comes from a private company. What the state still measures, and why its definition is not the one you want.

Nobu
September 8, 2026

Gunma, Kanto, Location, Seasonal Travel, Travel Tips

Hotokuji Temple Floor Maples in Kiryu, Gunma: 2026 Dates, Rules and What the English Pages Get Wrong

The main hall at Hotokuji in autumn: window bays open on two sides onto red and orange maples and a rock garden, three paper parasols stand on the raised tatami, and the broad dark floor in the foreground reflects the maples, the window frames and the ceiling beams upside down.

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.

Nobu
September 6, 2026

Kansai, Kanto, Kyoto, Kyushu & Okinawa, Location, Oita, Seasonal Travel, Tochigi, Travel Tips, Weather & Seasons

Japan’s 3 Great Autumn Foliage Spots: 2026 Peak Dates

Kegon Falls in Nikko plunging 97 metres down a dark rock face, framed by orange, gold and green autumn foliage under a clear blue sky in late October

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.

Nobu
September 5, 2026

Kanto, Location, Saitama, Seasonal Travel, Travel Tips

Saitama Autumn Leaves: Two Spots the English Guides Skip (2026)

Japanese maples at Tsuki-no-Ishi Momiji Park in Nagatoro, Saitama, lit from below at night during the November illumination: layered red and orange canopies above bare trunks, with several small ground-level floodlights visible on the leaf-covered slope.

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.

Nobu
September 5, 2026

Chubu, Location, Seasonal Travel, Transportation, Travel Tips, Yamanashi

Fujikawaguchiko Autumn Leaves Festival 2026: New Hours, Paid Parking, and the Bus That Leaves Early

Looking south across Lake Kawaguchi from the north shore on a November afternoon: a rust and orange maple canopy overhead with many branches already bare, the pale outline of Mount Fuji half hidden behind cloud on the far side, boats pulled up on a wide band of exposed gravel shoreline, and dry pampas grass in the foreground.

The 2026 festival runs 7-29 November with the illumination ending at 21:00, half an hour earlier than last year, and the town car park charged for the first time. Neither change exists in English.

Nobu
September 4, 2026

Fukuoka, Kyushu & Okinawa, Location, Oita, Seasonal Travel, Travel Tips

Kyushu Autumn Without the Guidebooks: Yujaku Park and Raizan Sennyoji (2026)

Red and orange Japanese maples ringing a still pond at Yujaku Park in Oita, their colour reflected almost perfectly in the water under a clear blue sky.

Two of Kyushu late-autumn best sites have almost nothing written about them in English, and what exists is out of date. Prices, illumination dates, the weekday bus problem, and three corrections to the official English record.

Nobu
September 4, 2026

Aichi, Chubu, Location, Seasonal Travel, Travel Tips

Aigi Tunnels: Japan’s Abandoned Railway Opens for Nine Days (2026)

Looking out through the arched brick mouth of a disused railway tunnel in the Aigi Tunnel Group, with orange and green maple trees filling the opening beyond.

Four brick tunnels on Japan's original 1900 Chuo Line, abandoned in 1966 and locked ever since, open for nine days from 28 November 2026. Dates, fares, the 33-minute run from Nagoya, and why the maples may or may not cooperate.

Nobu
September 2, 2026

Travel Tips, Seasonal Travel, Weather & Seasons

Best Time to Visit Japan: 12 Months Compared (2026-2027)

Full-bloom cherry blossoms framing Mount Fuji across Lake Kawaguchiko from the northern shore in spring, with pink petals in the foreground and the snow-capped peak under a clear sky

All 12 months on one scale - JMA temperatures, real crowd drivers, costs and what you will actually see - plus the honest first-trip pick and the 2027 dates that move prices.

Nobu
August 18, 2026

Location, Experience, Gunma, Kanto, Nature, Seasonal Travel, Weather & Seasons

Oze Kusamomiji: Japan Grass Autumn Before the Maples Turn (2026)

Wooden boardwalk crossing the golden kusamomiji grass colour of the Ozegahara marshland in early autumn, running toward Mount Shibutsu in Oze National Park on the Gunma side

Kusamomiji turns Ozegahara gold from mid-September, weeks before maple season. What it is, the 2026 Hatomachi Pass access, and day trip vs hut night.

Nobu
August 18, 2026