🇯🇵 Everything you need to know before visiting Japan in Fall | Japan in November 🍁

🇯🇵 Everything you need to know before visiting Japan in Fall | Japan in November 🍁

if you’re planning a trip to Japan in November 
here’s everything we learned from planning [Music] ours I guess that if you’re here it’s because 
you’ve already chosen to travel in November or around November but if you’re doubting with which 
month to go to Japan we would probably recommend to check out the auto footage they release a 
map every year with when they estimate that it will be at its peak in each region so I think 
that’s pretty useful cuz it’s later than you think we actually wanted to travel in October at the 
beginning because we wanted to attend a festival which is another thing like you can check if there 
are festivals happening around the dates you are traveling because then you can plan your trip 
around that as well we decided in our case that we didn’t want to go to the Festival which was in 
October we wanted to go to a festival in takayama and instead we decided to push the trip a little 
bit and travel in November in hope to get the big season of autumn foliage and was it like that 
so we thought that we timed it really well but when we chose to to go there in November when we 
booked our trip like the year like it hadn’t been released for that year so we estimated that it 
would be a bit the same or like maybe even later on yeah that we came in the beginning of November 
and it was still very summery there like really really warm and the leaves were not looking 
autome at all or like these really saturated red orange yellow colors that you’re expecting 
it was not like that at all it was very green it was very it was green right 24° and it was the 
parks were still green it was like just ending summer kind of but nothing near Autumn and then 
as we went out of Tokyo and we went South on the trip to Kyoto takayama uh Hiroshima uh it got 
a lot colder really quickly as we moved more South and the foliage started changing um very 
fast and once we came back to Tokyo at the end of the trip in late November uh it was like 
a complete switch it was not warm anymore the Autumn foliage was there and we hit a good moment 
there but we were a bit scared in the beginning when we came that we would completely miss the 
Autumn foliage cuz it was like a freak year with the temperatures or something but we ended up 
seeing it in a couple places really nicely very red and saturated colors and it’s really pretty 
also bear in mind that this is not like the cherry blossom but it’s I would say it’s getting there I 
think it’s getting more popular there’s a lot of activities and things that they do because of the 
Autumn folage like it was announced on the trains for example and and all of that so I think that 
there’s a lot yeah I just think it’s always very popular in Japan always very busy with tourists 
no matter what time of year but especially cherry blossom but also Autumn for season so prepare for 
crowds that also made me think of the weather be ready for different weather temperatures we looked 
it up before traveling and we were like okay it was supposed to be like 10 to 16° something like 
that so we were prepared for that kind of weather um throughout November and it was not like that 
at all as Morton was saying when we arrived it was really warm like summer weather like you could 
just summer clothes for the first days and then I think it depends a lot what you’re traveling we 
went to the mountains in takayama and I think that was the one we were least prepared for cuz 
we didn’t account for how cold it would be there and how high up it was and I don’t think we knew 
it’s freezing my hands are freezing yeah we were suddenly standing in the middle of the night in 
the ran we it had a roof Terrace with an onson and we were there and outside it 0° it’s freezing 
out here so we went from 24 in Tokyo Ando wasn’t too bad like maybe it was 18 something like that 
I don’t remember it cold nor warm day twoo it’s raining a lot great weather yeah but in takayama 
it got very cold yesterday it was like 18° when we were in Nya it was so warm and then this 
morning it was 3 so we’re basically freezing and yeah that was a big change I also think that’s 
contributed to why I ended up getting sick towards the end of the trip cuz we had been through 
so many temperature changes and also at the rokan and the onson of being in the cold weather 
and then jumping into the extremely hot uh water and in and out I think was not good for me yeah 
but I think that in general be prepared for like have enough clothes for the cold cuz you might get 
cold weather yeah take into account the different areas you’re going to go to are you going to go 
in the mountains or like how South are you going to go and obviously take all of that into account 
yeah cuz there might be a quite big change in the temperatures yeah one really cool activity that 
happens I think it is November right or like it starts maybe in October is Temple illuminations 
at night I don’t remember exactly how it’s called I think just night illumination 
night illumination that was really cool [Music] that Happ apparently is a quite common thing 
um in different temples as far as I understand but especially in Kyoto there was a lot when we 
were there and where the temples are open uh at night and they do these projections and super 
cool light shows basically project Ed onto the temples themselves on the temple Gardens 
um with different graphics and with music as well and maybe there’s like a little bamboo 
forest or something like that that’s also lit up in interesting ways um it was really cool 
it was really pretty yeah and it’s also the only chance you kind of get to see it at night 
cuz usually they close quite early so it was it wasn’t that busy either I would say it wasn’t too 
it was a really nice kind of relaxing atmosphere here there just everyone there to just watch 
the lights and and enjoy and it was not busy it was not loud just really cozy and dark 
and and and with the projections yeah so pretty we didn’t see all of them but we saw at 
least three or four I think and I’m going to put the name on the screen of the one we like the 
most and then we also had the one with the Zen experience where you have that was also a night 
that was also at night and that was really cool that you got like different activities to complete 
throughout the yeah there was one Temple where you kind of got through S journey and you had to 
complete different tasks that the monks at the temple would do like you had to make uh was like 
a little a little Garden or what like the with the rake with little I don’t know I don’t remember 
how it’s called I don’t know what it’s called This is what it’s called or one where you had 
to what was it like color in yeah no you had to you had to calligraphy copy yeah with calligraphy 
and also you had to do a prayer I think something like that but that was different tasks that you 
could kind of complete get stems to you get stems it was just an experience I think it was that was 
really cool as well but yeah the point being that there’s a lot of activity at at night and with 
the temples and you can definitely like especially inside Kyoto that we did spend an evening walking 
around this tour of the temples and and see the the lights and everything they’ve done exactly 
and on that note also something that we didn’t really think about because we were focused on 
the whole Autumn experience is that Christmas is around the corner if you’re traveling in November 
so Christmas activities start anytime from mid November actually so when we were in Hiroshima 
which was 20 yeah around yeah around the 20th of November they had the Christmas illuminations 
and uh there was a whole Main Road fi with like these light installations for Christmas we found 
the light this how we found out that there was Christmas lights and then same when we came back 
to Tokyo it’s something that if I had known maybe I would have planned better for it because there’s 
a lot of Christmas markets and Christmas lights and uh just Christmas activities that you can 
kind of go and see we actually didn’t have time to visit a lot we only saw the one at the bottom 
of Tokyo Sky Tree M but there’s a lot of Christmas things going on already so it’s in interesting 
to be aware and maybe check it out if that’s something you’re into another thing that uh I feel 
like I’ve already mentioned a little bit but check your festivals I know that it’s more typical maybe 
to have festivals during the summer that’s when most of them happen but there’s also some Autumn 
ones so it’s interesting to see like depending on the DAT you’re traveling to make sure that there’s 
nothing like like just check it anything that you would be interested in seeing I considered going 
to the one in takayama cuz it’s one of the ones that are big and happen in October and we decided 
against it but instead what we did was visiting the Museum of the festival which was incredibly 
cool and looking at it now that was one of the best things we did I think I think that was really 
really was a very unique experience to see all the floats that they used in the f I don’t know if 
this one they still were using or if it was the retired uh floats but anyways like in in they 
stored them inside of a mountain in a in a cave kind of this is how it looks the bus left 
us here and then you go through the hall and then you have the main part here under 
the mountain uh we had this long path to get in there through the mountain and then 
you arrive with this huge room with the the cave roof of the stone of the mountain with all 
the floats in really nice ambient lighting and there maybe was like 10 or 12 of these massive 
huge Parade floats like on one that would be one character that would maybe like go out 
on a ramp like all mechanical and programmed to happen at certain times and um maybe 
it would play music and it would but it shoot out confetti and stuff like this but 
play the traditional songs and like put you in the atmosphere it so there was always like 
something happening somewhere which is really unique I think that it’s not for everyone cuz 
it was a bit old but like we enjoyed it a lot and you get to drum the big one of the big drums 
P’s largest flat drum which AA will now drum no pressure you can really hear the echo so 
that was really fun but now looking at it like maybe I would have even considered going 
like arranging our trip to go to the Festival because it’s something that I would I think 
it’s really really nice it would be really nice to see basically Mort than has seen some 
in the past in the summer so uh he has a better perspective on that but I think that it’s nice 
to check if there’s any festivity happening that you can take advantage of for sure like that’s 
a really really cool experience to see uh one of the big festivals but we kind of had to choose 
between that or seeing the Autumn foliage to kind of make it work with our trip and yeah we ended 
up just trying to go for for the Autumn foliage yeah I think these are some of the things 
that we considered while planning our trip for November like how did we decide to do it in 
November and like which things would be nice to consider for it if you’re interested in seeing 
a video on on like our trip and like the route we did of course there’s all the blogs in the 
channel if you want to see like uh what we did but I’m thinking of doing uh what we did on our 
21 days so it’s like everything in one video on how we planned our route so um let me know and 
I’ll see you in the next one hi it’s working now can you try to talk T I think it’s because 
he wasn’t pointing up okay from planning hours

Are you planning your trip to Japan in November? Here’s what we learnt from our trip in November 2023 around the country.

I hope watching this will help you if you are planing your trip to japan during fall/autumn. We traveled around Japan in November and it was one of the best decisions we could have made.There’re a lot of activities and things to consider when booking such a trip, and here’s a few of the ones we would recommend looking into 🙂

We travelled from the 2nd to the 24th of November and just for context here’s the route that we took and the cities we visited:
Tokyo – Kawaguchiko – Nagoya – Takayama – Okuhida Onsengo – Kyoto – Nara – Osaka – Kyoto – Hiroshima – Himeji – Tokyo (all vlogs available in @aidamuncu )

Useful links and information:

Autumn Peak Foliage (2024)
https://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo24/

Fall Festivals in Japan (2024)

Fall Festivals in Japan

https://www.klook.com/en-US/blog/japans-epic-autumn-festivals/

TOKYO
Rikugien Garden Autumn Illumination 2025
https://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/rikugien-garden-autumn-illumination/33182
Winter Illuminations around Japan
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2304.html
Tokyo Winter Illuminations
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2303.html
Christmas Markets in Tokyo
https://tokyocheapo.com/entertainment/christmas-markets-in-tokyo/

KYOTO
Autumn Illuminations (2024)
https://kyoto.travel/en/news/Lightup_events_2024.html
https://genjikyoto.com/en/blog/kyoto-autumn-light-up-schedule-2024
Kiyomizu-dera Autumn Illumination 2025
https://en.japantravel.com/kyoto/kiyomizu-dera-autumn-illumination/29524

TAKAYAMA
Festival Takayama
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5909.html
Matsuri No Mori (festival museum)
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5910.html

HIROSHIMA
Dreamination Illuminations (mid Nov to early Jan)
Official website https://www.dreamination.com/
https://en.japantravel.com/hiroshima/dreamination-illuminations/2973

00:00 – Intro
00:19 – Autumn foliage
03:07 – The weather
05:18 – Night illuminations
08:12 – Christmas events
09:25 – Takayama autumn festival
11:49 – Outro