It seems that today autumn has finally ended and winter has begun. The time of the koyo autumn leaves has passed, and it is bound to get cold now – and today already, we had heavy rain in the afternoon, which prompted me to turn on my heater for the first time.
This year, the koyo were not quite as they should have been because the weather was not stable enough. To have good koyo, the weather should be warm and sunny until mid November, and then there should be a sharp drop in temperature. The latter is what induces the maple leaves to turn red or orange or yellow. This year, however, the weather was different, with many cold (but not too cold) days in between somewhere, so the leaves did not change that nicely, but instead just shrivelled on the trees.
Even so, the usual haunts for koyo-looking were all full to the brim with Japanese tourists, who, although slightly disappointed, still seemed to take photos of individual leaves. So did I, but as I missed the one sunny day to go out because of an appointment, I only have very few photos to share this year. I am sure there will be many better years to come though.
