Japan Autumn Leaves Tracker

Every autumn, the red of the maples travels from north to south. It reaches Hokkaido around late October, Tokyo and Kyoto in late November, and ends in Kagoshima in December. This map follows its journey with the observations of the Japan Meteorological Agency, checked twice a day.

How to read the map

The map is cut into small 4 km zones. Each one takes its color from the day you pick: still green, starting to turn, at its best, or leaves fallen. The play button runs through the season, and the past years, back to 2016, show how each autumn actually went. For the current year it is an estimate drawn from the last ten years, adjusted as soon as the JMA observes its first trees.

The dots are my autumn places, where I went to see the koyo or that are worth the trip in season. Zoom in and their photo appears; click one to open the article.

Why the mountains turn first

The JMA watches a single tree in the garden of each station, right in the city. But the cold arrives earlier up high: in Nikko, the shores of Lake Chuzenji are red by mid-October, while the Tokyo station waits until late November. The map shows how far the season has come, my articles tell you where to go.

Planning an autumn trip? See also my guide to Japan in autumn.