When do autumn leaves turn in Japan? Maple and ginkgo, 2025 dates and averages

How to read these dates

JMA records the day the leaves of a sample maple tree at each station turn mostly red (かえでの紅葉), and the day those of a sample ginkgo turn mostly yellow (いちょうの黄葉). The first table gives the maple dates as 1991–2020 averages; the real date moves from year to year.¹ Further down are the dates JMA recorded in autumn 2025 and the ginkgo averages.² At one station JMA observes a substitute maple species; it is marked.

Every prefecture, earliest first

JMA has no autumn-leaf average for the station in Okinawa.¹

Autumn 2025: the dates JMA recorded

The most recent season with dates, at the same stations, in the order the maples turned. “Compared with average” is the observed date minus that station's 1991–2020 average, in days.² Maples turned earlier than average at 14 stations, later at 27 and on the average day at 5; ginkgo turned earlier at 10, later at 32 and on the average day at 3. JMA's 2025 ginkgo table has no date for Gifu (station 岐阜; it shows “-”), so the cell says “Not observed”. When we saved JMA's tables on 2 October 2026, no station had a 2026 maple or ginkgo date yet.

Station names are JMA's, in English and as JMA writes them in Japanese. JMA prints the same difference (平年差) beside each date; ours match it.

Ginkgo: when the leaves usually turn yellow

On the 1991–2020 averages, ginkgo leaves turn yellow first in Iwate, around 30 October, and last in Tokushima, around 8 December. JMA has a ginkgo average for 46 of the 47 prefectures' stations; there is none for Okinawa.²

What is the light like on the autumn-leaf date?

For photographers: on the average maple date in 2026, the direction of sunrise and sunset and the minutes of evening golden light (our stated band: the sun from 6° above to 4° below the horizon), calculated with NOAA's solar equations for the weather station.¹ See the light calendar for any date.

What these dates cannot tell you

• Past dates, not a forecast. The averages and the 2025 dates describe past seasons; 2026 will differ. Check the current season's reports before you travel.
• One tree in a city. Leaves in the mountains usually turn earlier than a tree at a city weather station; these dates say nothing about them.
• We have not been to these places and make no judgement about which is better to visit.

See also cherry blossom dates, where to go in November and December.