You may not be familiar with the term 'Leaf-peeping'. It's actually an informal term for going out to view the Autumn / Spring colours of leaves in the forests and in the parks. We don't have a word for it in English but in Japan it is a popular culture that's been around since ancient times. They even have formal words for it - in Autumn it's called 'Momijigari' and in the spring it's called 'Hanami'.

Hanami is the more famous celebration during the Spring Cherry blossom period. Momijigari is still as popular and there are various festivals throughout Japan to celebrate Momijigari. People organise various activities like trekking in the countryside or going to see bands playing in parks while taking pictures of the autumn colours of the leaves.   

I didn't understand what the 'Leaf Peeping' fuss was all about as we also get  beautiful brown and yellow leaves in autumn in the UK, until I took a peep in Tokyo. The colours are nothing like I had seen before, very intense ranging from Cherry Red, to brilliant yellow, purple to blue, orange to green - with all the colours of the rainbow. It was a pleasant eye opener as I thought I knew everything about autumn colours!   

Apparently there are only a few places in the world where the weather conditions are just right to produce these spectacular displays of colours on leaves - The most notable being Eastern Canada, North Eastern America, Southern Argentina and Japan. It needs dry-cold and sunny conditions. If it gets wet or cloudy, which is the case in most places in western Europe during Autumn, the colours will not be as intense. If it's rainy, the leaves will start falling very quickly before they get to their intense colours.   

During Autumn the countryside in Japan becomes alive with these colours for a period of 4-5 weeks. Autumn leaf peeping season is usually between late October and Early December. Everyone have their own personal favorite spot where they go with their friends and family. Most town people tend to go to their nearest park which have carefully selected and composed landscapes to produce the desired colour effects at the right time of the year. Kyoto and Nikko are the two most notable destinations for Autumn leaf-peepers. But the countryside is also a popular place where tourists flock to, to view the colors in the wild. The most impressive parts are in the mountainous regions between Nagano and Kanazawa where the colours of the countryside look like an artist's palette! They are mesmerisingly beautiful.   

I had always wondered why Japanese gardens have little or no flowers and put more emphasis on recreating a natural scenery. But with the changing of the seasons in Japan, the trees provide a similar colour appeal as the flowers during certain times of the year. So you don't actually need flowers when you can have trees to give you the same visual spectacles! It actually feels very surreal when standing looking at these 'giant sized flowers'. 

These are some of the pictures I took in the parks around Tokyo. This website has also got some spectacular pictures of the colours in the countrysides during Autumn http://zekkeijapan.com/article/index/41/