Chasing Autumn Foliage: Nagano and Kawaguchiko

Autumn may be one of the shortest seasons in Japan, even more so in the last years. Still early-October weather is quite warm, and it is only end of October that temperatures start dropping and autumn begins, and with it, the most beautiful combination of colors: yellow, orange, red. While I agree cherry blossom season is spectacular in Japan, the crowds are making it difficult to fully appreciate the places. In contrast, I found autumn much less crowded, with spectacular views all the same.

Today I want to show 3 places that start with the letter "K" that were my favorite to visit for autumn foliage, called 紅葉 "momiji" or "kouyou" in Japanese. It consist of a weekend trip to Nagano Prefecture to visit Kamikochi and Karuizawa with work collegues, and a day-trip from Tokyo by myself to Kawaguchiko (Yamanashi Prefecture).

Autumn weekend roadtrip to Nagano

Nagano Prefecture is one of the easiest gateways from Tokyo that allow you to delve into the alps, onsen and most rural Japan, especially with a car. For this trip we rented a 2-day car for the 8 of us (all collegues at work), starting from Wakoushi (Saitama) where we live.

Note that in ordere to drive in Japan you need an international driving permit, and that they drive from the left. I also recommend carefully choosing the pick-up point: it is not worth it for a Nagano trip to book a car in Shibuya or south of Tokyo, as you would spend maybe 2 hours crossing Tokyo up north. It is better to take the train to the outskirts of the city and then rent a car.

From Wakoushi, it was very easy to get on the highway. We left just after work on a Friday of mid-October, and took us 4 hours to reach our accomodation for the night in Nagano: Onsen Yado Misuzuso. Much like in anime, we split in two groups, 3 girls and 5 boys. The onsen was beautiful and already had red maple leaves around it from nearby trees. The accomodation was very cheap, contrary to other touristic ryokans, but it is true you can only get to these places by car.

Day 1: Kamikochi

Breakfast was not included at the accomodation but there was a staff-free supermarket nearby, which I found quite odd: you basically had to leave cash or pay using PayPay and take whatever food you wanted, without having anyone observe. This only happens in Japan.

There were several snow monkeys and their babies walking around too, proof of the little tourists they get around there.

As we got on the car and we started driving through Kamikochi the scenery was turning more and more beautiful, with a mixture of yellow, orange and red trees, valleys and bridges. We stopped at a few bridges and viewpoints. We were only 20 minutes drive away from Kamikochi in any case so by 9 AM we arrived.

Kamikochi is a remote, high-altitude mountain valley located in the Northern Japanese Alps within Nagano Prefecture. The valley itself is only open to the public from mid-April to mid-October as it is pretty high up - 1500 meters above sea level. We had to park the car outside the park itself, at Sawando Parking place (600 yen for a day), as private cars are not allowed inside due to pollution. Then you can either take the public bus or a taxi - for us as we were a group we opted for the taxi.

There were quite a few people inside the park. It was also pretty cold, about 5 degrees. There are several trails, including a campsite and several cute restaurants. Some higlights include Taisho Pond, a scenic pond formed by volcanic eruption and Kappabashi suspension bridge; and Myojin Bridge. We could also see the high alpine mountains around already covered in snow.

We especially liked Kamonjigoya Restaurant, they have bonfires and you can eat fish and soba.

The main trail is circular so we ended up at the initial point, taking some hot "nikuman"s (meat stuffed buns) to warm our bodies as it was half-snowing.

Around 2 PM we went back to our cars, and headed to Matsumoto (50 minutes drive). The main goal was to visit Matsumoto Castle, a National Treasure, with a black and white exterior. Access was 700, with last entry at 4.30 PM - we got there just in time. We found the inside quite small and too crowded, we spent more time in the queues to go up the 5-stories than actually enjoying the site, so I would recommend sticking to exterior viewing.

From the castle it was time to reach our second accomodation in Nagano: Asama Vista, 1.20 hours away. It was a whole house, and difficult to find, as it was literally in the middle of nowhere, like a farm house. We got on the wrong entry with Google Maps and had to back track the car to find the right way - thankfully the owner helped us out.

The accomodation itself was amazing, a complete house with 2 floors, where all 8 of us could sleep in futons. A fireplace, a garden, even a barbecue! We had passed by a supermarket before reaching the accomodation to buy a lot of meat, and in spite of the freezing cold, we spent several hours having barbecue at the garden. Even smores!

Day 2: Karuizawa

We started the morning with a coffee at the garden, enjoying the view of rural Japan. I would have stayed there all week and more if I could. It was sad to have to leave.

Our next destination was Karuizawa, also in Nagano, 20 minutes away. I had already been there in September, during my Gunma trip, but I was excited to see the village with autumn foliage.

As I had already observed last time, there were many cute coffee shops in Karuizawa, and this time I had the opportunity with the group to go to Harunire Terrace. It is a commercial compelx located in the Hoshino area of Karuizawa, with shops and restaurants along a wooden boardwalk surrounded by a forest. The Sawamura Bakery were we had breakfast was especially popular with fresh dough. Nearby there was an onsen and a park where many people were reading.

I revisited Shiraito falls, this time the waterfall was surrounded by yellow-orange leaves, not yet with full foliage colors but prettier than in September. Even if we entered by car this time, instead of bus, we had to pay an access fee (600 yen).

From there we went back to Kumoba Pond, which was much prettier now with autumn colors, before finishing the day at mille mele for the local apple pie.

The way back to Tokyo took about 3 hours considering also the Sunday traffic jam.

Sunny day-trip to Kawaguchiko

The next autumn escape was a day-trip I did solo to Kawaguchiko in late November, when fall foliage had arrived to Tokyo area. It is quite amazing how mid-October we could already see autumn in the alps, but in contrast it arrived so late in Tokyo.

Kawaguchiko can be reached by bus from Shinjuku Busta Station under 1 hour and 45 minutes (Fujikyuko Express Bus), and in peak times like autumn foliage or cherry blossom season, it is pivotal to book it in advance. It is also important that it is sunny, with less clouds the better, as the main highlight is that you can see Mt Fuji!

Lake Kawaguchiko is one of the Fuij Five Lakes located in Yamanashi Prefecture and lies at the base of Mt Fuji. Together with Hakone, it is one of the easiest way to get up close to Fuji.

My first stop was Churaito Pagoda. I had to take the Fujykuko line to Shimoyoshida station (15 minutes) to then walk about 20 minutes to the starting point of the trail to the pagoda. Already in the train I could see Mt Fuji clearly thanks to the good weather!

In retrospective, the bus from Shinjuku actually also stops near the pagoda at Chuodo Shimo Yoshida station.

There are quite a few steps to go up the pagoda, but all was covered in autumn trees. My favorite picture of Japan that I have taken is this one, with Mt Fuji surrounded by red leaves.

Churaito Pagoda is at the top, a 5-story pagoda in Arakurayama Sengen Park, overlooking Fujiyoshida. It is however very crowded so difficult to take a picture solo with the pagoda and Fuji. I recommend walking a bit more back from the viewpoint to get less people.

Coming down the pagoda, I headed back to Kawaguchiko station. I had some lunch next to Lake Kawaguchiko and originally wanted to take the ropeway. But I had underestimated the crowds, and waiting time for the ropeway was over 1.5 hours. Even waiting for the bus to circle the lake took 30 minutes to get a spot. For next time, I would rent a bicycle or directly choose to walk around the lake.

Finally I made it to Oishi Park, a flowery park next the lake with perfect view of Mt Fuji.

From there I walked along the shore of the lake observing the volcano and autumn leaves,

to reach Lake Kawaguchiko Maple Corridor, the most famous corridor for autumn foliage. They also had several stalls for food and music.

As I was short on time I queued for the bus to come back, as it was already 5.30 PM. Due to the crowds the bus was delayed, which led me to miss the bus I had booked. I got a bit stressed as they told me there were no more buses to Tokyo with availability. But thankfully checking online I could see some spots. Worst case, I could go back by train even if it cost double.

My recommendation would be if travelling in peak seasons to rent a bike or walk around the lake, and come back to Tokyo by train both to avoid the risk of missing the bus and also the rush hour. There is also a boat tour asides the ropeway that I did not get to do and would have been nice. But at this time as the goal was to see Fuji and autumn leaves, I was not too worried at missing them.