Tokugawaen: A Great Place to See the Fall Colours in the City

One great thing about fall in Japan besides the relief from the hot, muggy summer and the seasonal foods, are the momiji trees. The Japanese maple is beautiful in autumn when the leaves change to a vibrant red splash of colour. One activity that many Japanese do is take an outing just to enjoy this scene in the crisp outdoor air. Most well-known momiji viewing spots are located a little farther away from the big cities, in the mountains or countryside where there is vast land for trees to grow. However, inside Nagoya, there is a Japanese Garden that can give one a taste of autumn right in the city.

Tokugawaen was actually originally made in the 17th century, for private land. It only became open to the public in the 1940s. When December comes along, the garden, which usually closes late afternoon, is kept open until 8:30pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for two weekends in order to let people see the momiji trees at night under lamps and laterns. This year, wanting to stay in the city, I decided to visit Tokugawaen for my annual momiji viewing. It seemed almost magical with lanterns lining the paths and brightly lit red and green leaves reflecting on the pond below. There aren't many skyscrapers surrounding this garden so it didn't even really feel like I was in the city.

Venue: Tokugawaen 徳川園
Where: a 10-25 minute walk from Ozone Station 大曾根駅 (Meijo Line 名城線), or hop on the city's sightseeing Meguru Bus which stops right at the entrance of the Garden
Website: https://www.tokugawaen.aichi.jp/english/
Admission Fee: 300 yen

Japan's Fall Scene: Yoro Falls in Gifu

One thing I like about the Japanese is that they take pride in their four seasons and find beauty in each one. When the leaves start to change colour in the fall many people will trek out just to view their bright red leaves.

Every year I try to get out and see the Japanese maple trees in autumn. In the Tokai area (central Japan) the momiji viewing starts about mid November until the first week in December. It's not just about going out to a forest area to see the trees, in Japan there are parks, temples or shrines and gondolas in the mountains to go and see the fall colours. They make it easy to get out to with buses or public transit and once you arrive there are pathways and maps to make sure you don't get lost in nature.

This year I visited Yoro Falls in the Gifu prefecture. It was a perfect sunny day with a slight chill, but the uphill walk to the falls warmed me up quite a bit.

The first part of the walk up

It took about 10-15min to get to parking lot at the bottom of the mountain from Yoro Station. The leaves were already starting to change colour from there. I love the contrast of the bright red and still green momiji (Japanese Maple) leaves. The momiji are different than Canadian maples as they are smaller and daintier, and only turn red as opposed to yellow and orange as well.

Midway up

The path of stairs follows the river up to the falls to make the scenery even more serene.

Almost at the top, area around the gift stores

Near the top there is an area to catch a bite or buy some omiyage (souvenirs). Although some of the leaves were still green, there were some that screamed autumn. I imagine the peak would have been a week or so later, or the last week in November.

Yoro Falls

The steep walk up (about 15 min) was worth it! Just look at the beautiful waterfall framed by colourful momiji!

Obento and the falls

No one else did this, but we bought a department store obento (lunchbox) before getting on the train to Yoro. I'm so glad we did (I'm not the one who carried it all the way though)! It was so nice to have a slow lunch break on a nice day right in front of the falls. I highly recommend doing this!

A close up at the top part of the falls

Back at the bottom of this mountain

Be sure to cross the little bridge at the bottom of the mountain, before the parking lot to see this beautiful landscape.

I hope you enjoyed my first post on this blog. There are so many places to capture the fall colours and I'll eventually get around to telling you about some of the places I've visited in all my years living here.