It’s Autumn: Koyodai-Tenbodai in Yamanashi

Yey! Don’t you just love the season of red-and-gold leaves and clear night skies? Autumn is my absolute favorite season, not because I was born in autumn—these days birthdays only remind me of how I’m aging against my will!—but because of the fascinating burst of colors in the crisp autumn air. (Continued after the Japanese summary)

Here are some autumn leaves from Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan taken the previous year.

Autumn leaves at Yamanashi, taken in early November last year. 山梨県の紅葉、昨年の１１月撮影。

A drive along the lakes of Mt. Fuji gave us this pretty view.

View of Mt. Fuji from inside the car. 車内から見た富士山。

From the top of the observation deck called Koyodai 紅葉台展望台 we saw the lovely sight below.

View of Mt. Fuji from the Koyodai Observetion Point. 紅葉台展望台から眺めた富士山。主人が撮影^^

My husband took the photo above while I brought out my watercolors and made a quick sketch of the scene 🙂

The one unhappy thing about this place is that, while the climb to the top was very pleasant in terms of autumnal views, the path is incredibly narrow and you’ll have to share the space with cars driven by people who are too lazy to climb up on their own two legs 🙁 There should be a rule where only the physically handicapped or senior citizens are allowed to drive up the narrow path. We left our car on one of the parking lots below the observation deck.

The photos above were taken early November. It seems that the best time to visit is anywhere between late October to mid-November.

While my watercolor painting skills haven’t improved since childhood (in fact, I painted better as a child), my photography is much better this year so I’m really looking forward to the autumn leaves 🙂

What about you? What’s your favorite place for appreciating the beauty of autumn?

Books to Consider

関連書籍

External Links

Fujigoko.tvの情報サイト – 紅葉台展望台の動画とアクセス方法。 Contains a video from the view deck as well as a map (in Japanese).
Yahoo!紅葉特集 – 見頃に関する情報及び車アクセス方法。 Last year’s info site by Yahoo. Info regarding the “state of the autumn leaves” is updated regularly. New 2012 site will come out in October (in Japanese).