Visiting Uji to see fall foliage

     In the fall, the leaves on the trees turns vivid colors like yellow or Red. On the way to go school, I have seen many trees turing in to brilliant color recently. And, it seems like many people here go to somewhere to see autumn foliage. I also wanted to see it so I visited Uji which is noted for the glorioius tints of its autumn foliage and green-tea. Uji is located in Kyoto. There are two train station near by Uji. One is JR Uji station and Keihan Uji station. I used Uji station and it was really close to famous places likeUjigawa and Byodoin temple.


This website would tell you how to get here.
http://www.uji-genji.jp/en/access/

This is a short video introducing Uji city.

 When I got to the Uji station, many people got off and headed to the same direction so it wasn't hard to find the way to see Ujigawa, main street, byodoin temple. As these signs show, here has many famous places to visit like a temple or shrine. Also, here is the famous place for green-tea. I think these things are the advantage of this place. People come to this place not only just to see fall foliage but also to visit these places and enjoy greentea. Here is not as famous for fall foliage as other places like Arashiyama which is also in Kyoto but I still people come here to see it. And, I think here is a good place to see it because here has a river, many trees and mountain.

I passed by Ujigawa(Uji bridge) and this is the picture I took from the Ujigawa. The scenery from this bridge was so beautifu. Many people stopped walking and took pictures here.

After passing the bridge, I got to this street. Some people were wearing traditional Japanese costume. I think it's like one of their culture because I've seen people who wear kimono in Kyoto for many times. Their traditional costume matched well with with this traditional place. This street has many shops and restaurants. The shops have green tea products. Also, the restaurants have green tea manus like greentea soba and icecream. Green tea smell was all over the street because some stores have a machine roasting tea.

   The first one is byodoin temple. Byodoin was designated as one of world heritage and the picture of here is on the 10yen coin.
   I went here on 13th of November which was pretty early to see fall foliage. Leaves of some trees had changed color but many of trees were still green. I thought it would be good time to see it but I should have waited more. But, still some trees were beautiful. According to what I heard from Japanese people, from the end of November to the early of December is good for the best fall foliage.

Visit this website to check if it's good time to go to see fall foliage. It will show you how much fall foliage has been progressing.
http://kouyou.nihon-kankou.or.jp/

It's a greentea parfait I ate and I bought greentea too. Both were so delicious. No wonder here is famous place for greentea.

* Bonus pictures : Thomas and friends train.

When I was heading to Uji station, I luckily got on this well decorated train. Whenever it stopped at stations, Japanese people took a picture from the outside.

To get on this train, visit this website and check the time table.
http://www.keihan.co.jp/traffic/topics/event_thomas2011/