October 27, 2011

Autumn Colors in Kansai

We purposely timed our visit to Kansai to coincide with its famous fall colors.  Thus many of the photos I have posted previously from this magnificent region will show you the breadth of beauty found this season of warm yellows, oranges, reds and browns.

Today I share a few more autumn photos from that trip to celebrate a season we don't really have at home in tropical Philippines.







I sure wasn't the only one reveling in the flaming colors of the maples!

Kansai, 2009
Extra:

Manila, 2011

I took this final photo last evening. This line of friendly pumpkins are on the street in front of our neighbor's house, waiting to greet the kids of the village coming by on Saturday for group "trick or treat" fun.

Halloween was not known in Finland where I spent most of my childhood, so the only time I got to dress up and go "trick or treat" was a couple of years in my early teens in Vancouver, BC. Fortunately I never did have much of a sweet tooth and I outgrew this pretty fast.

Do you celebrate this event in your corner of the world? Do you have any special memories?

Linking with other autumn images at Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday and (for the last image) to Pat's Thursday's Things in a Row.

36 comments:

Gail said...

Wonderful colors, love the stairs!

Carola said...

That is autum at it's best.
We didn't know Halloween in Germany when I was a child (born 1965). It is popular to decorate a bit the entrance and the kids go around asking for sweets, since around 2000. But still little compared to the US, where I was Halloween 2009.

Unknown said...

The red leaves are amazing! What beautiful photos!

Pat said...

Truly beautiful images! Wow - I, too, like the stairs photo the best. I think it's the perspective, makes me think I'm about to take a step! I love the little birdie, too! Thanks for joining in for Thursday's Things in a Row. Those pumpkins sure are cute!

Gattina said...

Very beautiful pictures ! I am not a fan of autumn at all ;) !

Dana @ Bungalow'56 said...

Beautiful colours! And yes we do celebrate the holiday even though it is usually snowing and very cold. How I wish Halloween was one month earlier here in Northern Canada. The kids don't seem to care though, the lure of candy far too strong.
Dana

Lesley said...

I think I would be planning my trips to coincided with these colours, too if I lived somewhere without autumn.

Gel said...

These are fine shots, so colorful with the autumn reds I love.

Yes, we celebrate Halloween. I live in the USA. We're going to a costume dance!(BTW, if you're interested, I painted much more on that cardinal so my painting is now almost finished and I posted it.)

Lowell said...

Greetings, Francisca! This is one heck of a post...incredible colors! We get a little change here (in December) but nothing like this! The one good thing is that we don't have snow and ice, either! :-)

Kay L. Davies said...

Fantastic photos, Francisca. You are SO talented.
Do let me know if you're going to be in Vancouver again. I'm always willing to fly out to visit the Davies mob, and it would be wonderful to meet you.

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

21 Wits said...

Oh you are very wise! such stunning and most beautiful collection of such a lovely time to visit!

Susan Anderson said...

What incredible fall colors. And those pumpkins are cute as can be!

=)

cieldequimper said...

What a wonderful ode to autumn!

Nope, not in France as you know. They tried to introduce it about 20 years ago but failed dismally in that the French decided it was nothing but 'American commercial crap'. Then they tried to explain it wasn't American commercial crap but a very old Irish custom yet the French didn't buy it, oh no. Then again, the French being what they are, not speaking a word of English, they never realised that it's actually All Hallow's Eve which could (or should?) be celebrated in a more subdued and less commercial way...

I don't care for Halloween personally but I do wish we had autumn decorations in shops rather than Christmas decorations. It's October for Pete's sake...

Ha. I've finished with my rant pour aujourd'hui.

Maude Lynn said...

Breathtaking pictures!

Cathy Kennedy said...

The fall colors are gorgeous and the pictures are beautiful. I love autumn and as for Halloween...I like the candy. =D

jen said...

Just discovered you from Alphabe-Thursday. I'll be back--what unbelievable photos. I can't believe you're in such a beautiful place.
Funny. I thought I recognized that poem on your sidebar, then I saw it was my good friend Sue's! Of course!

EG CameraGirl said...

Great autumn colour! I didn't realize you lived so many years in Finland. For some reason I thought you grew up in Belgium. You really have seen most of the planet, haven't you?

anitamombanita said...

Gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing.

Pat Tillett said...

Wow! What a beautiful group of photos! If my memory serves me correctly (it seldom does), isn't Kansai near Kyoto?
Happy Halloween!

Vicki/Jake said...

Your camera must be magical:)

Awesome scenes you shared again...

tapirgal said...

The top photo of beautiful leaves and Buddha in warm light is extra special. All of the leaves are gorgeous. I'll try dropping the word verification again. Let's see what happens.

Unknown said...

Lucky you! We always try to time our trip to Kansai so that we can catch the fall colors but because of the weather being so wonky these past few years, we've always ended up missing it by a week or two.

Technically we can get a lot of colors here in Tokyo too because we have the gingko trees but I would really love to see all the vibrant reds that Kansai has to offer too.

Ebie said...

The flaming red colors is just gorgeous! You took some lovely shots like Autumn in full swing!

storybeader said...

I love the red maples! So beautiful. And what a friendly welcome to neighborhood children! So nice! {:-Deb

Judie said...

Francisca, I love to see your view of the world. You are such a gifted photographer!

Oakland Daily Photo said...

Gorgeous fall colors. Must have been a thrill to visit during this season. We were in the Smokey Mountains a couple of weeks ago. The trees were only starting to turn. They must be blazing now. Halloween memory: Hiding behind the sofa when the doorbell rang. I was four and the costumes scared me. Shows you the magical thinking of preschoolers.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Those are beautiful fall colors and that was a good time of year to make that trip. Where you are now I suppose would be sort of like being in Florida , not much seasonal change. So I'm glad we're still in Oregon.

Happy Halloween to you too! (not much trick-or-treating in an RV Park, but years ago, my kids used to love the Holiday. I think they've outgrown their sweet tooth too!)

James said...

Wow! your autumn photos are so beautiful! Like visual poetry. I had my fill of Halloween when I was a boy. :)

SquirrelQueen said...

I love the color of those maples. Mother Nature gives us such a spectacular show each autumn. The steps, fences and trees are great for Things in a Row.

Andrea said...

Amazing photos of amazing landscapes. Envy, envy, envy!

H said...

Hallowe'en is growing more popular in the UK; mainly I expect, because of American TV programmes which do Hallowe'en specials and also because of the shops which can sell Hallowe'en decorations and costumes.

Traditionally, the big celebration of this time of the year is Guy Fawkes night, remembering the 1605 plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Bonfires and fireworks :)
(And a good screen to allow me to burn off all the natural rubbish tidied from my garden and lying around drying out for the last couple of months.)

Unknown said...

Love the photos of Japan. Gorgeous colours.

Never experience Halloweens before, this year will be my first!

jennyfreckles said...

So glad I didn't miss these gorgeous photos.

Kathy said...

Love all the autumn colors!

Unknown said...

I'm trying to find out which shot I most like... with no sucess. All are fantastic! Gorgeous colours.

Jenny said...

Oh my goodness. What a glorious post!

These pictures were really beautiful.

I truly felt like I experience Autumn through this visit.

Thank you for sharing your lovely photography with us.

And thank you for linking up to Fall Break!