Autumn in Kyoto

You might have heard of 花見 (hanami 'flower viewing'), where everyone gets time off work in the spring to go and have a little party in the park and look at the cherry blossom. However I didn't realise there is a rough parallel in the autumn, 紅葉 (kōyō 'autumn colours'). Around mid-November the leaves on the Japanese maple trees begin to turn this beautiful shade of red. I was surprised that it started so late in the year since where I come from you can see leaves beginning to fall around September. In Kyoto, though, the weather remained warm well into October so I expect in the colder north things are more similar to the UK. From my friend who does rickshaw tours I hear the town of Arashiyama and Kyoto's many temples are very busy with foreign and Japanese tourists alike at this time of year, no doubt hoping to get some good photos.

On my way to and from class I can go through the palace park if I fancy a change from the picturesque views of the main road. I decided to stop and take a few crappy phone photos since there are quite a few very brightly-coloured maple trees in the park. Scenes like these make me wish I had more time and skill as they would be lovely to paint. Perhaps I could commission the old people who can often be seen sitting around Doshisha doing watercolours of the more attractive buildings. My 0.01 megapixel phone camera doesn't quite do them justice but you can see how the red stands out. It looks especially pretty when the sun is out, enhancing the colours.