Beautiful Autumn Foliage in Tokyo 2018
Last week was the best time to see the autumn foliage in Tokyo. This year they changed color slower than usual. The leaves in this season are very beautiful. Autumn leaves are called “Koyo, 紅葉” in Japanese. I like Koyo! Today I introduce spots where recently I went leaf-peeping in Tokyo this year. The spots are bellow. You can jump to each spot.
2 Inui Street in the Imperial Palace
Autumn Foliage in Japan
When is autumn leaves in Japan?
The best season of autumn leaves is usually late November in Tokyo and Osaka.
What is the temperature of the autumn leaves season?
The average temperature is about 15℃ in Tokyo. The lowest temperature is about 5℃.
※The post I wrote about autumn foliage in 2017 is this↓
I introduced Ueno Park, Showa Kinen Park, the University of Tokyo, and Rikugien last year.
1 Yoyogi Park(代々木公園)
Yoyogi Park is the large municipal park in Harajuku, Tokyo. It is located next to Meiji-Jingu. In the park, many citizens are walking, jogging, or playing anytime. I visited the park to see autumn leaves late November.
In Yoyogi Park, the leaves of about 1,300 trees, such as zelkova, ginkgo biloba, and maple, change their color in autumn. The yellow leaves were beautiful, but some leaves were still green and didn’t change color. My visit might have been still early for autumn foliage…it was a pity.
Some leaves around the fountain were red. Many people were watching autumn leaves while sitting in the benches around the pond.
The first week of December seemed to be the best time to see the autumn foliage in the park. This is the tweet of Yoyogi Park on Dec 10th. “Leaves are almost scattered and golden leaves covered the ground. Irohamomiji also began to fall, the red leaves of only some trees remain.”
葉はほぼ散っていますが、イチョウ並木では黄金色の絨毯が楽しめます。イロハモミジも散り始め、一部の木だけ紅い色に染まっています。 pic.twitter.com/WPQgrlqbhY
— 都立代々木公園 園長の採れたて情報 (@ParksYoyogi) December 10, 2018
| Yoyogi Park | |
| 【access】 | 3 minutes on foot from Harajuku Station |
| 【open】 | always |
| 【website】 | http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index039.html ※Click “Multilingual” on this website |
2 Inui Street in the Imperial Palace
Inui Street in the Imperial Palace is open to the public every cherry blossoms season and autumn leaves season. This Autumn, it was open for 9 days from Saturday, Dec 1st to Sunday, Dec 9th. This time I visited Inui Street for the first time. The Imperial Palace is 15 minutes walk from Marunouchi N
Because many people visit inside the Imperial Palace, you have to undergo a security check by police before entering the Sakashita-Gate. This photo is the Sakashita Gate.
Passing through the gate, you can see the Kyuden, where the emperor performs rituals.
Many people were walking to see autumn leaves. The building on the left is the Imperial Household Agency.
Inui Street is a straight single road. It was one-way from the Sakashita Gate to the Inui Gate or East Gaden. Red maple trees were on both sides of the road.
Red leaves were beautiful.
You can also see Yamashita Street, but can’t enter in. And you can find a cherry tree which blooms in winter. This tree was rare, so many people were taking the
The trees I felt the most beautiful were those pictures’. They were in the middle of changing their color. They had green and yellow and red leaves!
This is the scene you can see only when the season is changing.
When you see the Inui Gate, leaf-peeping is finished. I had a wonderful experience of walking inside the Imperial Palace! If you come to Tokyo in the spring or the fall, please try to visit Inui Street. You can get information from the website of the Imperial Household Agency.
Passing the Inui Gate, and then, I went to Kitanomaru Park which is just on the other side of the crosswalk.
3 Kitanomaru Park(北の丸公園）
Kitanomaru Park is the national park located in the outer garden of the Imperial Palace. There are many plants, a lawn square, and a large pond in the park. And the park also has remains of Edo Castle and cultural facilities such as Budokan and National museum of modern art.
I visited this park for the first time, the autumn leaves were great!
The gradation looked beautiful. Many people were taking pictures.
You can walk among trees. Many people were enjoying leaf-peeping.
The autumn leaves had carpeted the ground. They ware beautiful.
I found autumn leaves on the stone over the small river. It was a nice scene.
Budokan with yellow leaves was also beautiful.
I enjoyed the autumn season again this year. I was satisfied!
| Kitanomaru Park | |
| 【access】 | 5 minutes on foot from Kudanshita Station or Takebashi Station |
| 【open】 | always |
| 【website】 | Ministry of the Environment |
Japanese OL. (OL means “office lady”. Women who work in offices.)
I was born in a rural part of the Kanto area in the latter half of the 1980s. I live and work in Tokyo now. I live with my husband. I study English by writing this blog!
