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1. Stunning autumn leaves
Often overlooked in favour of its blushing spring cousin, the autumn leaf-viewing season in Japan is just as spectacular — turning mountains, gardens and parks into blazing scenes of crimson, russet and gold. It also lasts a lot longer than the short-lived cherry blossom, so you’ve got much more time to take advantage of the magnificent scenery than you would during spring.
2. Historical festivals
Summer may be when Japan officially lets its hair down, but autumn has some excellent festivals of its own.
Kyoto’s Jidai Festival, or “Festival of Ages”, takes place on the 22nd of October at Heian Shrine, on the anniversary of the city’s founding. Its pièce de resistance is a mammoth parade made up of 2,000 participants, all dressed to represent different periods of Kyoto’s millennium-long tenure as capital. You’ll need a strong constitution to take it all in — the procession takes two hours to pass by!
Meanwhile, Hakone’s Daimyo Festival happens on the 3rd of November, and also features a parade of characters in historical dress — though about 200 this time, not 2,000. Hakone was once a staging post on the old samurai route between Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and Kyoto, and this parade recreates the journey of a feudal lord (daimyo) and his retinue along that same trail.
3. Sumo
There’s a lot more to sumo than you might think. It’s not just a sport, it’s a way of life, and the wrestlers’ lives are governed by strict rules based on the tenets of Shintoism. The popular wrestlers also have die-hard fans, whom you’ll find queueing up for autographs and photos after each tournament. In that sense, they’re something like a cross between a monk and a rock star!
Sumo only happens at certain times of year, and in November it’s in Fukuoka, on southerly Kyushu Island. Going to a tournament is a real, only-in-Japan experience, and we can’t recommend it highly enough.
4. Autumn food & autumn beer
Seasonality is incredibly important in Japanese cooking, and autumn brings its own host of dishes, ingredients, flavours and traditions. Chanko nabe is one of the delicious dishes served in the cooler seasons (and a favourite with sumo wrestlers), and many people hold nabe parties to welcome in the season with friends. Simmering vats of oden (another kind of hotpot) begin to appear in every convenience store, greengrocers are filled with persimmons and nashi pears, and “autumn-flavoured” beers proliferate on supermarket shelves. Even the KitKats get into the spirit of fall, appearing in flavours such as sweet potato and chestnut.
5. Beautiful weather
Autumn brings a beautiful respite between sweltering summer and the chill of winter, with warm, dry days and far more blue-sky days than summer (though not as many as in the winter). It’s the ideal season for walks, and that’s just as well, because Japan’s scenery has never looked better.
InsideJapan Tours has 13-night ‘Autumn Splendour’ self guided adventure which is designed to take in the best of the country in the Autumn.