When is the best time for the autumn leaves in Japan in 2026?

For the mainland cities, the third week of November into the first week of December. 日本気象's 2026 forecast puts Tokyo at about 29 November and Osaka at about 4 December, both normal for those cities, which makes 20 November to 10 December the window with the least risk.

Has the season started yet?

Check tenki.jp's colour map rather than the forecast. It reports every spot in five stages and refreshes at 15:00 daily; on 16 October 2026 it had Hokkaido at its best, Miyagi just starting, and everywhere from Tokyo west still green.

Is the 2026 season early or late?

Late. 日本気象's first forecast, published on 2 September 2026, expects the colour to be normal or later than normal almost everywhere, with Sapporo and Nagano more than nine days behind their average dates.

I am in Japan in mid-October. What is left?

Hokkaido's lowlands, the mountains of Tohoku, the upper stations of 立山黒部, 上高地, the higher parts of 日光 and 高尾山. The cities will still be green, so plan the trip around a ropeway or an alpine route rather than a temple.

Do the night openings need a booking?

清水寺 does not: it opens until 21:30 on 21–30 November and you walk in. 高台寺 and 圓徳院 sell tickets at the gate. The timed ones are the 嵐山 bamboo path, which sells a slot for ¥1,500 on the day and ¥2,000 online, and 二条城's projection show, which is cheapest on a weeknight.

Can I see good leaves in Tokyo without leaving the city?

Yes. 新宿御苑 holds Japanese, English and French garden styles in one park, the 明治神宮外苑 ginkgo avenue turns gold in the same weeks, and 高尾山 is an hour from Shinjuku with its festival running to 13 December.

Layers, plus a windproof shell if you are going above 1,000 m. 上高地 is a 1,500 m valley with average temperatures 5 to 10 degrees below Matsumoto in the same week, and the alpine routes see sub-zero mornings by late October.

Can I take fallen leaves home?

No. Leaves are plant-quarantine material in most countries including Japan's own rules for incoming goods, so a pressed leaf is not worth a customs conversation. Photographs travel better.

Can the Chureito pagoda and Lake Kawaguchi be done in one day from Tokyo?

Yes, and they sit on the same railway line. The 07:30 Fuji Excursion from Shinjuku stops at Shimoyoshida at 09:13, which is the pagoda's station, and reaches Kawaguchiko at 09:28. The two stations are 310 yen and fifteen minutes apart, so the day is the pagoda in the morning, lunch by the lake, and the northern shore in the afternoon. The last express back to Shinjuku leaves Kawaguchiko at 17:41.

Which station do I get off at for the pagoda?

Shimoyoshida, on the Fujikyu line. The Fuji Excursion calls there, and so does every local train, so you do not have to ride to Kawaguchiko and come back. It is a ten-minute walk to the foot of the stairs, 398 steps up, and the city's own figure is twenty-five minutes on foot from the platform to the tower. Honcho street, the shopping street with the mountain at the end of it, is five minutes from the same platform on the other side.

Is the pagoda free, and does it close?

Sengen Park is free and open around the clock, with toilets on site. The observation deck was rebuilt in 2022 and looks over Fujiyoshida towards the mountain. From 17:00 to 21:50 in October and November the park is lit, but the last express leaves Kawaguchiko at 17:41, so the light-up belongs to a night at the lake rather than a day trip. If you drive, the four city car parks cost 1,000 to 1,500 yen for six hours; buses and microbuses cannot enter the street at all.

How much is the Lake Kawaguchi ropeway, and when does it shut?

A return ticket is 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for children, and it rises to 1,200 yen and 600 yen on 1 November 2026. The line runs 8:30 to 17:00 with the last car down at 17:20, and to 18:00 from 20 July to 31 August. From 1 December to 28 February the last car up is 16:20. The swing and the lookout tower beside the summit station open 9:30 to 16:00 and close in rain or wind.

Do I need the bus day pass?

The one-day pass is 1,500 yen for adults and 750 yen for children, 2,000 yen for two days, and single rides start at 180 yen. It covers the red line, which runs from Kawaguchiko Station to the ropeway entrance in 11 minutes and to Oishi Park in 27. The pass turns on the third ride, so it pays for the ropeway and the lake in one afternoon. It is sold at the station window and on the bus itself, one-day tickets only.

What happens if the mountain is in cloud?

The pagoda is the safer half of the day, because the deck looks over the town whatever the summit is doing, and the morning is the clearest part of it. The ropeway publishes a live camera and the day's operating notices at the top of its own site, so check before you ride the bus out. Strong wind stops the gondola altogether, and then the deck at Sengen Park is the fallback rather than the summit.

Train or bus from Tokyo?

The Fuji Excursion is 4,010 yen to Shimoyoshida and 4,200 yen to Kawaguchiko, all seats reserved, four round trips a day, and it never sits in traffic. The highway coach is about 1 hour 45 minutes for 2,200 yen at the counter or 2,000 yen booked online, also reserved, and it stops at Chuo-do Shimoyoshida, five minutes on foot from the station. Its weakness is the way home: the Chuo Expressway into Tokyo on a Sunday afternoon is a queue.

Japan autumn leaves 2026: the forecast, month by month

A maple avenue in autumn colour beside a temple building — Hondo-ji, Chiba: the maple walk in late November.

The leaves turn from the north down and from the top down, which spreads the season over three months and the whole length of the country. Japan's 2026 forecast has the colour arriving late, by nine days or more in Sapporo and Nagano, and puts Tokyo's maples around 29 November and Osaka's around 4 December. That leaves 20 November to 10 December as the window worth booking, and the night openings at the temples as the thing worth booking around.

In one line Nothing is early this year. October belongs to Hokkaido and the mountains above 1,000 m; the mainland cities turn from about 20 November, and the Kyoto light-ups run through the last ten days of November. Check the colour map the night before you move, and keep a spare day in the plan.

Season: Mid Sep – mid Dec
First 2026 forecast: 2 Sep 2026
Tokyo, per 日本気象: 29 Nov

1What the 2026 forecast says

日本気象 (Japan Meteorological Corporation) publishes the first forecast of the year in the opening days of September, and for 2026 it went out on 2 September, covering about 700 named spots and, separately, about 3,000 mountains by altitude. The headline is warmth: autumn stayed hot long enough to push the colour back almost everywhere, with Sapporo and Nagano more than nine days behind their normal dates. The two city dates worth carrying in your head are Tokyo at about 29 November and Osaka at about 4 December, both of them ordinary for those cities.

Region	Mountains and hills	Towns and lowlands	Ginkgo
Hokkaido and Tohoku	early Oct – mid Nov	mid Oct – late Nov	early – late Nov
Eastern Japan (Tokyo, Nagano, Kanazawa)	late Oct – early Dec	late Nov – mid Dec	early Nov – early Dec
Western Japan (Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka)	late Oct – early Dec	late Nov – mid Dec	mid Nov – early Dec

The ginkgo column matters more than it looks. Yellow comes on a week or two before red, so the ginkgo avenues of Tokyo and the temple ginkgo of Kyoto open the same season a fortnight early, and a list of maple dates alone will have you arriving into a green week.

2Reading the three forecasts

Three private agencies publish a leaf forecast. All three revise through the season as temperatures move, so the September numbers are the shape of the season, not the week you should book.

日本気象 — 紅葉ナビ. The 700 spots come with a date and a comparison against normal; the mountain layer, 3,000 peaks by altitude, sits behind a paid course. This is the one that gets quoted in newspapers, and the one whose first release sets the season's story. In 2025 its third and last release came on 4 November.
tenki.jp — the colour map. Not a prediction but a report: every spot moves through green, starting to turn, at their best, past their best, fallen, and the whole map is refreshed daily at 15:00. On 16 October 2026 it showed Hokkaido at its best and Miyagi just starting, with everything from Tokyo west still green. That's the honest answer to "has it begun yet", and it's the page to open on the train.
Weathernews. About 1,200 spots, first forecast 3 September 2026, plus a ranking of the most-visited places. The ranking is a decent proxy for how full a car park gets on a Saturday.

Japan's own weather agency doesn't forecast leaves at all. 気象庁 records the date the sample tree in each city has mostly turned, which is the definition everyone else borrows: the day most of the tree's leaves have changed colour. So the confident "the season starts on 15 November" lines you see are usually a past observation standing in for a forecast.

3October 2026: the last of the northern season

What October has left is the north and the height. Every vertical metre counts, so the ropeways and the alpine routes are where the colour is while the cities are still green, and the same prefecture can hold a finished ridge and an untouched valley at once.

A bridge crossing a gorge between autumn-coloured mountains — Naruko Gorge, Miyagi, where the V closes in late October.

Place	Where	In season	What it's
層雲峡	Hokkaido, 上川	early – mid Oct	The country's first colour: a gorge cut into 大雪山国立公園, a ropeway to the top, and a night gondola whose 2026 run finished on 12 October
定山溪	Hokkaido, an hour from Sapporo	early – mid Oct	Hot-spring town on a river with a walkable gorge and the 錦橋 over it
洞爺湖	Hokkaido	mid – late Oct	A caldera lake that never freezes, an 有珠山 ropeway above it and boats out to the islands
十和田湖 and 奥入瀬渓流	Aomori	mid – late Oct	14 km of stream walk between the lake and the gorge, plus cruise boats on the lake
八甲田	Aomori	early – mid Oct	A ropeway up a beech and maple plateau; the ridge turns weeks before the town
鳴子峡	Miyagi	late Oct – early Nov	A 100 m V cut by the 大谷川, crossed by the 大深沢橋, with a 2.5 km path below
立山黒部	Toyama and Nagano	upper stations from late Sep, 室堂 to mid Oct	Six vehicles over 2,000 m of height; the route itself stays open into late November
上高地	Nagano	early – late Oct	A 1,500 m valley at 河童橋 and 大正池; the facilities close for winter in mid-November
日光	Tochigi	mid Oct – early Nov at 中禅寺湖	A 1,269 m lake under 男体山 with 華厳滝 below it; the higher reaches go first
高尾山	Tokyo, an hour from Shinjuku	from late Oct, best mid-Nov – early Dec	The もみじまつり runs 24 Oct – 13 Dec, and the cable-car line is lit on Fridays to Sundays and holidays from 1 Nov to 6 Dec

Watch Altitude decides October. If a ridge has finished, the valley below it hasn't started, so a wasted morning is usually a wrong-elevation morning rather than a wrong-day one.

4November 2026: the month the country turns

From about the third week the temperate belt goes at once, from Kanazawa and Kyoto down to Miyazaki, and the temple night openings start on the same dates. The set-pieces are concentrated: Kyoto's hillsides, the Kanazawa gardens, the 4,000 maples over the 巴川 at 香嵐渓, and the castle gardens of Shiga and Okayama.

A temple hall on a hillside surrounded by red and orange maples — Kiyomizu-dera: the night opening runs 21–30 November.

Place	Where	In season	What it's
東福寺	Kyoto	late Nov	Some 2,000 maples in the 洗玉澗 valley seen from the 通天橋; be there when the gate opens
嵐山	Kyoto	mid – late Nov	渡月橋, 天龍寺, 常寂光寺 and the 保津川, with the 嵯峨野 trolley train along the gorge
清水寺	Kyoto	mid – late Nov	The stage above the maple valley, and a night opening 21–30 Nov that needs no booking
高野山	Wakayama	late Oct – mid Nov	The 蛇腹路 at 壇上伽藍 and the walk to 奥の院, with temple lodging in the same village
奈良公園	Nara	late Nov – early Dec	Deer under the maples, with 東大寺 and 春日大社 inside the same walk
彦根城 and 玄宮園	Shiga	late Nov	A national-treasure keep above a pond garden that reflects the colour; its light-up runs 14–29 Nov
香嵐渓	Aichi	mid – late Nov	About 4,000 maples over the 巴川 and the 71st festival takes in the whole of November
兼六園	Ishikawa	mid – late Nov	One of the three great gardens; free evening entry on 7, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29 Nov
岡山後楽園	Okayama	late Nov	千入の森 inside a 300-year-old circuit garden, with 幻想庭園 evenings 20–29 Nov
栗林公園	Kagawa, Takamatsu	late Nov	A 400-year-old garden in 13 hills and six ponds; lit 20–29 Nov, with night boat cruises from 1 Nov
寒霞渓	Kagawa, 小豆島	early – late Nov	A ropeway over one of the three great gorges, with the 瀬戸内海 behind it
錦帯橋	Yamaguchi	mid – late Nov	Five wooden arches at 岩国, rebuilt on 1673 patterns, with 岩国城 above
高千穂峡	Miyazaki	early – late Nov	Columnar cliffs over the 五瀬川 and rowing boats up to the 真名井の滝
金鱗湖	Oita, 湯布院	early – mid Nov	A small lake that steams on cold mornings, ten minutes from the 湯布院 street

5The 2026 night openings, by date

The temples and gardens publish their autumn evening dates months ahead, so this is the one part of the season you can plan exactly. Book the ticket if it's timed, and go midweek if it's not.

Venue	2026 dates	Hours	Notes
高台寺 and 圓徳院, Kyoto	23 Oct – 13 Dec	from 17:00, last entry 21:30	¥800 at 高台寺; the bamboo grove and the pond garden are both lit
二条城, Kyoto	23 Oct – 5 Dec	18:00 – 22:00, last entry 21:00	Projection mapping, timed tickets, cheapest on weeknights
仁和寺, Kyoto	24 Oct – 13 Dec, Fri to Sun and holidays	18:30 – 21:00	The 雲海 sea-of-cloud lighting in front of the hall
嵐山 bamboo path, Kyoto	to 8 Nov	18:00 – 21:00	Timed entry: ¥1,500 on the day at the path, ¥2,000 online with the time guaranteed
清水寺, Kyoto	21 – 30 Nov	open to 21:30, last entry 21:00	No booking; the terrace is the whole point of going at night
兼六園, Kanazawa	7, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29 Nov	18:00 – 20:45, garden shuts 21:00	The garden is free to enter during the lighting
彦根城 and 玄宮園, Shiga	14 – 29 Nov	18:00 – 21:00, last entry 20:30	Tea and a sweet in 鳳翔台 for ¥1,000, no booking
後楽園, Okayama	20 – 29 Nov	17:00 – 20:30, entry to 20:00	The garden opens late and lights the maple grove
栗林公園, Takamatsu	20 – 29 Nov	17:00 – 21:00, last entry 20:30	Night boat cruises on the south pond book from 1 Nov, ¥850, plus garden entry
香嵐渓, Aichi	1 – 30 Nov, every night	dusk – 21:00	No lighting on 31 Oct; the summit paths shut after dark for the wildlife
高尾山, Tokyo	1 Nov – 6 Dec, Fri to Sun and holidays	dusk – 20:30	The cable-car line itself is lit, so the ride up is the attraction

6December 2026: the city gardens and the tail

By the first week of December the show has moved indoors, which suits a trip that's mostly about eating and shopping. Tokyo's maples reach their city date around 29 November and the ginkgo avenues are already gold; Kyoto keeps the temple gardens going into the second week, with the last of the night openings closing on 13 December.

Tokyo. 新宿御苑 for three garden styles in one morning, the 明治神宮外苑 ginkgo avenue for the yellow, and 高尾山 while the festival runs to 13 December.
Kyoto. The night openings at 高台寺, 圓徳院 and 仁和寺 run to 13 December, which is a fortnight after the hillsides have gone, and the crowds have gone with them.
Atami. 熱海梅園 keeps about 380 maples, and it's the last place on the coast with red in it, which is why its own season runs from late November into the first days of December.

7Crowds and tickets

The demand isn't spread evenly through November: it's concentrated on the weekends that fall inside a light-up run, and Kyoto takes most of it. Two of the events above sell timed tickets, and 香嵐渓 has lost its direct bus, so getting there needs a look at the timetable before the day.

In 2026 there's no direct bus between 八草 and 香嵐渓; the とよたおいでんバス and 名鉄バス are the way in, and the hill roads fill from mid-morning.
The 嵐山 bamboo path and 二条城 both run timed entry. Buy the slot and you skip the queue; the day ticket at the bamboo path is cash only.
Hotels are the constraint rather than the tickets. Anything inside a walk of the Kyoto stations on a November weekend is the hardest booking of the Japanese year, so hold a cancellable room now and release it when the forecast firms up.
Mountain weather closes things quietly: 上高地's facilities shut for winter in mid-November and the alpine routes close at the end of the month, so a late-November plan shouldn't depend on either.

8What I would do

For the second half of October, skip the cities: fly to Sapporo for 層雲峡 and 定山溪, or base in Tokyo and use the height instead, with 日光 and 高尾山 inside a day of each other. Book 高尾山 on a Friday, because the light-up only runs at weekends.

For 20 November to 5 December, base in Kyoto and work outwards. 東福寺 at opening, 清水寺 one evening of the ten, 彦根城 and 奈良 on weekdays, then Osaka for 勝尾寺 and the 大阪城 park. Add 高野山 if the trip has four nights rather than two, and 香嵐渓 only if you're driving or happy with two buses.

The rule that saves the trip is the colour map. Load tenki.jp the night before, read the same five stages the forecasters use, and swap the days when a spot is a week off. The forecast tells you the order of the season, and the map tells you where the order has got to.

Keep reading

A street of trees wrapped in blue and white lights

Tokyo winter illuminations 2026-27: the dates and what is free

Getting to Kawaguchiko: the buses, trains and passes

Sources

日本気象株式会社 — 2026年第1回紅葉・黄葉見頃予想, published 2 September 2026: about 700 spots and about 3,000 mountains, Tokyo's maples around 29 November, Osaka's around 4 December, Sapporo and Nagano nine days or more behind normal, and the regional mountain/低地 windows quoted in the table (n-kishou.com/corp/news-contents/autumn)
日本気象協会 tenki.jp — 紅葉見頃時期・天気情報 2026: the five-stage colour map, refreshed daily at 15:00, read on 16 October 2026 (Hokkaido at its best, Miyagi starting), plus the per-region season windows (tenki.jp/kouyou)
Weathernews — 紅葉情報: the 2026 first forecast published 3 September 2026, about 1,200 spots, and the most-visited-places ranking (weathernews.jp/koyo)
気象庁 — the sample-tree observation that defines the date everyone quotes, as described in 日本気象's forecast methodology
清水寺 — 夜間特別拝観, autumn 2026: 21–30 November, open to 21:30, last entry 21:00, no booking (kiyomizudera.or.jp)
京都夜観光 (京都府・京都市・京都府観光連盟・京都市観光協会) — 秋の夜間特別拝観・ライトアップ情報 2026年: 高台寺 and 圓徳院 23 October – 13 December, 仁和寺 24 October – 13 December, 二条城 23 October – 5 December, the 嵐山 bamboo path to 8 November with its ticket prices (ja.kyoto.travel)
公益社団法人八王子観光コンベンション協会 — 高尾山もみじまつり: 24 October – 13 December 2026, cable-car lighting 1 November – 6 December on Fridays to Sundays and holidays, dusk to 20:30 (hkc.or.jp)
豊田市足助観光協会 — 第71回香嵐渓もみじまつり: 1–30 November 2026, lighting to 21:00 every night, no lighting on 31 October, and no direct 八草–香嵐渓 bus in 2026 (asuke.info)
金沢市観光協会 — 金沢城・兼六園四季物語秋の段: free evening entry to 兼六園 on 7, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29 November 2026, 18:00–20:45 (kanazawa-kankoukyoukai.or.jp)
公益社団法人彦根観光協会 — 錦秋の玄宮園ライトアップ: 14–29 November 2026, 18:00–21:00, last entry 20:30, tea seat ¥1,000 (hikoneshi.com)
岡山後楽園 — 夜間特別開園「秋の幻想庭園」: 20–29 November 2026, 17:00–20:30, entry to 20:00 (okayama-korakuen.jp)
栗林公園 — 秋のライトアップ: 20–29 November 2026, 17:00–21:00, night boat cruises bookable from 1 November, ¥850 plus garden entry (香川県・栗林公園観光事務所)
上高地観光アソシエーション — the 2026 season closing notice for facilities in the valley, published 6 October 2026, and the altitude and temperature guidance (kamikochi.or.jp)
Every date here is current as of 17 October 2026. 日本気象 and Weathernews revise their forecasts through the season, and tenki.jp's colour map changes daily.

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