As for Tokyo, the leaf-peeping season, or kōyō, is expected to reach its peak between mid-November and early-December. Here is a list of gardens where you can take a stroll and enjoy the autumn foliage.
Rikugi-en (Bunkyō City)
The construction of the park began in 1695 and was headed by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu by permission of the fifth Tokugawa shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. The name of the park itself, Rikugi-en, and the mansion built inside, Rikugi-kan, refers to rikugi, the six forms of classical poetry. Completed in the early Edo period, it is a circuit-style garden with hills and ponds, also incorporating the garden style of Kyoto’s Katsura Imperial Villa. It is considered as a typical example of a garden from the Golden Age of the Edo period, also known as the Genroku Era, spanning the years from 1688 to 1704. During kōyō, the garden becomes saturated with the vivid colours of about 550 trees, including Japanese maples, wax trees and gingko trees. From 20th November to 12th December, the park will be illuminated in the evening and the opening hours will be extended to 9 pm.
Entrance fee: 300 JPY. For more information, please visit the website.
Mizumoto Park (Katsushika City)
Known as Metropolitan Edogawa Suigo Park until 1975, it is the only park in Tokyo with a beautiful scenery of large and small canals, drawing water from the flood control basin, with rows of poplars, a grove of dawn redwoods, wax trees and other species which are common to waterside areas.