ArticleJapan4 min read
Autumn Leaves Forecast 2026
When the colour will reach Hokkaido, the Alps, Tokyo and Kyoto
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A warm September has pushed this year's peak colour a few days later than average. Our region-by-region forecast for the 2026 momiji season.
A late season
Japan's autumn colour moves the opposite way to the cherry blossom front, beginning in the mountains of Hokkaido in late September and travelling south and downhill until it reaches Kyushu in early December. This year a long, warm September has slowed it down, and the weather services expect peak colour three to five days later than the ten-year average across most of Honshu.
That is good news for travellers who booked late November in Kyoto: the peak is now forecast for the last week of the month, with colour holding into the first days of December. Tokyo's ginkgo avenues in Jingu Gaien should turn gold from around 25 November.
In the mountains, colour is already arriving. Daisetsuzan in Hokkaido peaked in the last days of September, and Kamikochi and the Northern Alps are forecast to peak in mid-October.
Forecast peaks
- Daisetsuzan, Hokkaido: late September (now)
- Kamikochi and the Northern Alps: 10-20 October
- Nikko: late October
- Hakone: mid-November
- Tokyo: late November to early December
- Kyoto and Nara: 22 November to 3 December
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About this story
Saki SakuraAuthor
Sakura JourneysPublisher
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1 review- ABAisha Bello2 out of 5 stars5 Oct
Half the places listed were closed on Mondays and the guide does not mention it.
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