A month chasing autumn foliage in North Japan

Autumn begins in Japan in mid-September, with the Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group in the centre of Hokkaido. Autumn colours in Japan is dynamic in general, but last year's record hot summer complicated things further. As a result, I embarked on a largely improvisational tour, with traversing back and forth haphazardly all over Tohoku and Hokkaido, Japan's northern regions, from late September to early November. And yes, without a car, entirely using public transport.

It begins with the Daisetsuzan Mountains, with its two primary gateways - Asahidake and Kurodake. At the end of September, I was late for some of the higher elevations, but there was plenty of wild foliage in the middle of the mountains slopes. Daisetsuzan is more than autumn foliage, of course, with its exotic volcanic landscapes. Asahidake Onsen and Sounkyo Onsen are great bases, with Asahikawa being the major city at the edge of the mountains. There's plenty to see in Central Hokkaido all year round.

Next, I headed to the Hokkaido's (and Japan's) northeasternmost edge - the Shiretoko peninsula. This was definitely the most difficult to access by public transport, with many options being seasonal only. However, it's still possible, via Abashiri. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible, so I didn't get to see as much as I'd have liked, but it was still a wild and refreshing experience. A highlight was the night safari, seeing red foxes, brown bears, owls and more in the wild.

From Shiretoko, I headed back to the western side of Hokkaido. Not quite known for autumn foliage, plus it was too early. So, I'd double back to Hokkaido later at the end of October. Onuma Park in particular was a highlight. I had spent a couple of weeks in Hokkaido earlier, so I skipped a lot of the essential destinations this time. I focussed more on Tohoku this time.

The goal was to experience as much autumn has to offer, over the course of the month. There isn't a clear way to plan this, and Gemini Pro's itineraries were really lacking. So, I had a list of places, and improvised how to get between them over time depending on where autumn foliage was peaking.

There are numerous resources available online, but my top resource were the official forecasts by Japan's meteorological agency. This is a seasonal website that comes online some time in September, and features forecasts both in general for regions, but also specific destinations. These are updated as the season evolves. The other two top resources I liked were Japan-Guide.com's Autumn Foliage reports, and finally, checking on latest user submissions on Google Maps to see how things look at the moment.

The key to making the back-and-forth possible were the Tohoku and Hokkaido shinkansen lines, and the public transport options available from the shinkansen stations. For example, one of my bases was Morioka, but the Hakkoda mountains were peaking near Aomori at the time. I simply took the shinkansen from Morioka to Aomori, and then the bus to Hakkoda mountains. Morioka to Aomori would have taken 2.5-3 hours by road, essentially ruling out a day trip, while it takes only 47 minutes on shinkansen.

Of course, in only one month, you have to pick and choose, and I preferred wilder, more mountainous autumn destinations. On a related note, I've published over 700 photos from my time in North Japan, so picking just 20 here is an impossible task.

That is just the gist of it, and the actual itinerary would be overly complicated. So, I'll leave you with some of my highlights in Tohoku - Yamadera, Osorezan, Mt. Kurikoma, Hakkoda Mountains, Nyuto Onsen, Oirase Gorge, Matsushima Bay, and Aomori. Cumulatively, I've spent months in Japan before, but Tohoku continued to surprise and delight me. I ended this leg in Nikko, though technically just south of Tohoku.

Side-note, for fellow geography and history nerds: North Japan features the most extreme seasons on our planet. Certainly, there are places like Siberia with far more extreme temperature swings, but seasons are more than just temperature. Aomori is the snowiest city on the planet, with over 300 inches of snowfall most years. However, being in the same latitude as Northern California or Rome, in the summer, temperatures are often over 30C (85F). It also rains 1,350 mm in the average year. Japan has a unique geography, a largely mountainous archipelago sandwiched in between frigid Siberian winds and the humid Pacific. Particularly fascinating is Abashiri, which receives drift ice on its coast (something usually associated with Arctic and Antarctic) despite being at the same latitude as the warm Mediterranean coast. But it's not just about the unique geography, but about the cultural impact. Nowhere else on the planet do humans celebrate seasons quite like Japan.

Locations are added as captions to each photo. As always, AMA!