Cherry blossoms get the headlines, but for a pre-wedding or engagement shoot, autumn may be Tokyo's loveliest season. The ginkgo trees turn gold, the maples go deep red, the air is cool enough for a suit or a wedding dress, and the light stays soft all day. If you're planning a Tokyo autumn pre-wedding photoshoot, this guide covers when the colour arrives, where a professional shoot is actually allowed this year, and the one piece of advice we give every couple: start early.
When is autumn colour in Tokyo?
In central Tokyo, autumn colour (koyo) arrives later than most visitors expect. Early November is often still mostly green.
- Ginkgo (yellow) usually turns first.
- Maples (red) usually follow a few days behind.
- Warm autumns push everything later.
As of mid-October 2026, Weathernews forecasts put peak colour in central Tokyo's gardens around the first week of December, and a little earlier in the western suburbs (around November 19 at Showa Kinen Park). Forecasts change through the season, and we keep watching them before your date.
Our advice: for central Tokyo, aim for roughly late November to the first week of December, and keep a little flexibility if you can.
Start early: the most important part of the plan
Autumn colour brings crowds, so we plan every session to start as early as each location allows:
- Sunrise on a weekday for the ginkgo avenue, before the sidewalks fill.
- Opening time for the gardens, usually 9:00. At Koishikawa Korakuen the special photo plan runs from 8 to 10 a.m., which is the calmest time of the day.
- Weekdays over weekends wherever we can. In 2026, November 3 and November 23 are public holidays, and temple grounds are busy on November weekends with Shichi-Go-San family visits, especially around Sunday, November 15.
Your session time runs as one continuous block, so an early start usually means no night shots, and that's the trade we recommend. If evening light-ups matter more to you, we can start later instead. We'll be honest that evenings at autumn light-ups are crowded, and some light-ups are ticketed events where shoots aren't allowed.
How we choose locations
Before we recommend any location, we check the official rules from the park, garden, temple or authority that manages it, and label it:
- Permit required, we handle it: we apply, pay any standard fees and follow every condition.
- No permit needed: a session like yours is allowed under the official rules.
- Gray area: the official rules don't clearly cover a session like yours, so we ask the site directly before we book, and if the answer is no, we don't go.
A note from Lester: As of October 2026, shoots are allowed at these locations as described, but rules change, so please ask us for the latest. Where a permit is needed, we handle all of it for you. For Tokyo Portrait Sessions, any permit fee is added to your quote, and you pay your own garden admission at the gate. We always follow each location's rules and regulations. We never shoot guerrilla-style, and we never knowingly break the rules. If a place you had your heart set on isn't possible, I'm truly sorry. I'd rather tell you honestly now than have your session interrupted on the day.
These are photo sessions only. The parks and gardens in this guide don't allow ceremonies, so none of them is a place to hold one.
Traditional gardens: red maples and old Tokyo
Rikugien Gardens
Rikugien during its evening light-up, a ticketed viewing event. Photo: Pcs34560, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Permit required, we handle it. A classic Edo-period strolling garden with a central pond and teahouses, and one of Tokyo's best-loved autumn gardens. Shoots need an application at least a week ahead, and each one is reviewed. The garden may refuse shoots in busy periods and during events, and its autumn programme runs until December 6. It has even paused sketching and painting from November 1 to December 15 because of the crowds it expects. So we'll be straightforward: peak dates here are never guaranteed, and a slightly earlier date or an early weekday slot gives you the best chance. The evening light-up (November 25 to December 6) is a separate ticketed event, and we don't plan shoots around it unless the garden confirms one is allowed.
Kiyosumi Gardens
The garden in autumn, as Kawase Hasui printed it in 1920. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Permit required, we handle it. A calm Meiji-era pond garden with stepping stones across the water and a teahouse on the shore. It's usually quiet at opening time, which makes it one of our favourite early-morning gardens. Forecasts put its peak colour around early December. Tripods aren't used on the stepping stones, so we work handheld there.
Mejiro Garden
Permit required, we handle it. A small, beautifully kept pond garden with a waterfall and the Akatori-an teahouse. Its autumn colour usually comes in late November to early December. The garden takes shoot bookings by phone about six to eight weeks ahead, and some plans may be declined in busy periods, so this one rewards early planning. It's closed on the second and fourth Mondays of the month.
Tonogayato Garden
Permit required, we handle it. A hillside garden with a spring-fed pond and a bamboo grove, and around 200 maples that the garden says peak from mid-November to early December. Permitted photographers wear an armband, so staff can see the shoot is approved. It's in western Tokyo, outside the 23 wards, so our crew's travel is billed at actual cost and quoted before you book.
Old meets new: Tokyo Tower and Zojoji
For couples who want photos that say "this is Tokyo", the area around Tokyo Tower mixes seasonal trees, a great temple and the city's most famous tower.
- Shiba Park: Permit required, we handle it. Applications go in at least a week ahead. Shoots are daytime only (9:00 to 17:00, with a break from 12:00 to 13:00) and limited to two hours, so this is a daytime Tokyo Tower view rather than a night one. From December 4, a Christmas market sets up near one corner of the park.
- Zojoji Temple: Gray area. The temple's grounds have separate rules from the park, and it doesn't publish rules for portrait sessions, so we ask the temple directly before we book. It's an active temple, so we keep a respectful distance from worshippers, and November weekends can be busy with family visits.
The modern classic: Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue
Gray area. Four rows of tall ginkgo trees forming a straight tunnel of gold make this Tokyo's most famous autumn street. We couldn't find published rules or a permit process for portrait sessions on the avenue on the official Meiji Jingu Gaien site, so we confirm current guidance before we book you here, and we follow every instruction from staff and police on the day.
How we approach it:
- Sunrise on a weekday. At peak colour it gets busy even early, and very crowded later in the day.
- Safety first. The avenue is a public street. In recent seasons there have been crowd fences and traffic controls at peak times. We shoot from the sidewalks only, quickly and handheld, and never step into the road.
- An honest note on the view: the gallery building at the end of the avenue is under conservation works until the end of May 2027, so the classic end-of-avenue view has scaffolding. We frame the trees and the golden leaves instead.
A day out west: Showa Kinen Park
No permit needed. This huge national park in western Tokyo allows commemorative pre-wedding photos with a hired photographer without an application, as long as no money changes hands inside the park and the park's personal-shoot rules are followed. We arrange all payment beforehand. Its colour comes earlier than central Tokyo: ginkgo from early to late November and maples in the Japanese garden through November. In 2026 its autumn festival runs from October 29 to November 29, with evening lights from 16:30. If you'd like evening photos, this is the one place on this list where we'd suggest a later start, with an honest warning that evenings get busy, the night Japanese garden needs a separate ticket, and tripods aren't allowed at night outside designated spots. It's outside the 23 wards, so our crew's travel is billed at actual cost and quoted before you book.
Koishikawa Korakuen: special photo plan only this autumn
From November 1 to December 20, 2026, and on December 28, Koishikawa Korakuen accepts no regular portrait shoots. During that window the only option is the garden's special photo plan, 8 to 10 a.m., which we quote before you book.
Koishikawa Korakuen in early December. Photo: Soseipapa, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.