Best Time to Visit Tokyo · Guide №126
Tokyo in November: Weather, Events, Crowds and What to Pack
November brings dry, bright weather, peak autumn colour and the first winter illuminations. Week by week, what turns when and where to be.
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Tokyo in November is the year’s best-looking month and its most contested. Average highs slide from 19°C on the 1st to 14°C by the 30th, rainfall drops to less than half of October’s, and the ginkgo and maple finally turn. Everyone knows this, which is why the last ten days get so crowded.
The month rewards precision. Arrive early in the month and the city’s leaves may well still be green; arrive at the end and you are sharing the same avenue with a wall of phones. This guide covers what happens week by week, what it costs, and how to see the colour without spending the trip in a crowd.
November weather in Tokyo
Cool, dry and bright. November averages 96.3 mm of rain, around 40 per cent of what falls in October, and close to 150 hours of sunshine. The humidity that defines a Tokyo summer has gone entirely. It is, objectively, excellent walking weather.
| Period | Typical high | Typical low | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–10 Nov | 18–19°C | 10–12°C | Jumper weather; jacket after dark |
| 11–20 Nov | 16–18°C | 8–10°C | Light coat; cold in the shade |
| 21–30 Nov | 14–16°C | 6–8°C | Proper coat; genuinely cold mornings |
The gap between sun and shade is the thing visitors misjudge. A November afternoon on the sunny side of a street in Marunouchi is pleasant in a jumper; the same afternoon in the shade of a temple courtyard needs a coat. Layers you can take off matter more than a single warm thing.
Typhoon season is over. Snow does not happen in November. What you get instead is a run of stable, high-pressure days — which is also why this is the best month of the year for seeing Mount Fuji from a distance, including from the observation decks and from the Yamanote line’s western stretch on a clear morning.
Autumn foliage: when, exactly
Central Tokyo peaks late. The city sits on a heat island and its trees turn two to three weeks after the surrounding mountains, which is why so many visitors arrive in early November expecting red maples and find them stubbornly green.
| Where | Usual peak | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Oku-Nikko highlands | Mid-October | Train fares only |
| Mount Takao | Mid to late November | ¥390 each way from Shinjuku |
| Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue | Late Nov to early Dec | Free |
| Rikugien, Koishikawa Korakuen | Late Nov to early Dec | ¥300 entry |
| Shinjuku Gyoen | Late Nov to early Dec | ¥500 entry |
The pattern that works: Mount Takao or a Kanto day trip in the middle of the month, city gardens at the end of it. Takao is 54 minutes and ¥390 from Shinjuku on the Keio Line, the cable car adds six minutes, and the mountain runs a Momiji Matsuri through the peak weeks. Go on a weekday. The Sunday queue for the cable car in late November genuinely runs to an hour.
For the specific spots, the illumination evenings and the order to do them in, our Tokyo autumn foliage guide is the deep dive; this page is about fitting it into a month. The short version for the city gardens is that Rikugien and Koishikawa Korakuen both cost ¥300, and both hold autumn evening light-ups that need a separate evening ticket.
The ginkgo avenue, and how to see it without the crowd
The Icho Namiki avenue at Meiji Jingu Gaien — four rows of ginkgo trees framing the view down to the Memorial Picture Gallery — is one of the classic autumn scenes in Tokyo, and the Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Festival runs food stalls along it from mid-November into early December. It is a short walk from Gaienmae on the Ginza Line, and the earlier you arrive, the more of the avenue you get to yourself.
Go at 07:30. The light is better, the avenue is nearly empty, and you will be finished before the stalls open. This is the single highest-value piece of advice on this page, and it applies to almost every autumn spot in the city — the Tokyo crowd is a late-morning phenomenon. More on timing shots in our Tokyo photo spots guide.
November events
Tori no Ichi — the rooster-day markets
Held on the “rooster days” of the November calendar, which fall two or three times a month depending on the year, Tori no Ichi fills shrine grounds with stalls selling kumade — ornamental bamboo rakes crusted with gold coins, lucky cats, masks and rice bales, bought by business owners to rake in fortune for the coming year. When one sells, the stallholders break into a rhythmic hand-clap.
The two best in Tokyo are Otori Shrine in Asakusa, whose fair has run since the Edo period, and Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku, right outside Exit E2 of Shinjuku-sanchome Station and at its most atmospheric at night. Both run through the evening and both are free. Because the dates move with the old calendar, check the shrine’s own listing for the year rather than assuming a fixed date.
Shichi-Go-San — 15 November
The seven-five-three rite of passage, when children of those ages are taken to a shrine in formal dress. It is traditionally celebrated on 15 November, and Meiji Shrine is one of the places Tokyo families go for it. It is not a spectacle staged for visitors — it is families having a significant day — so watch from a distance and do not photograph children without asking the parents. The Tokyo culture and traditions guide has more on what is actually happening.
Public holidays and everything else
- Culture Day, Tuesday 3 November — a national holiday. Several museums and gardens waive admission; Meiji Shrine holds an autumn festival with archery and classical music. Expect a busy long weekend either side.
- Labour Thanksgiving Day, Monday 23 November — another holiday, and it lands squarely in peak foliage week, which is the worst possible combination for crowds at the gardens.
- Chrysanthemum displays — Shinjuku Gyoen stages the formal kiku exhibition in the first half of the month, and Yushima Tenjin runs a larger, free festival through most of November. Both are worth an hour and neither is crowded.
- Design Festa — the enormous independent-art fair at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba, usually a mid-November weekend. Thousands of individual makers, unpredictable and excellent. Check the current dates before planning around it.
- Winter illuminations — the big displays at Marunouchi, Roppongi, Shiodome and Yebisu Garden Place switch on through November, with most in full swing by December, so late in the month you can pair autumn colour by day with illuminations after dark. It is the best two-in-one week of the year.
What to eat in November
Autumn is the season Japanese food culture takes most seriously, and November is its centre. Menus change wholesale, and a fair number of the best things on them exist for about six weeks.
- Shinmai — the new rice crop, milled and sold from October into November. A bowl of shinmai at a decent set-meal restaurant tastes noticeably different from the same rice in March, and costs the same. Ask for it by name.
- Oysters — the Japanese season opens properly in November. Oyster bars in Ebisu and Nihonbashi run kaki-goya menus at ¥300 to ¥500 a piece for domestic varieties from Hiroshima, Miyagi and Hokkaido.
- Matsutake — the mushroom that costs more than the meat. Domestic ones run into thousands of yen each; imported Chinese and Canadian matsutake appear on set menus at a fraction of that and are still worth ordering once.
- Persimmon and chestnut — kaki everywhere from greengrocers to convenience stores, and Mont Blanc in every patisserie window. The depachika floors are where the good versions are.
- Beaujolais Nouveau — released on the third Thursday of November, and because of time zones Japan drinks it before anyone in Europe.
- Oden — the convenience-store vat by the till comes back for the cold months. ¥100 to ¥200 an item, and a genuinely good cheap dinner. See our konbini food guide.
Hot canned drinks reappear in vending machines around the middle of the month — the machines physically switch a portion of their stock to heated, marked in red — which is one of the small seasonal signals the city runs on. For where to eat more generally, the Tokyo food guide covers the categories worth your money.
Crowds, prices and the honest trade-off
November is expensive. It is peak inbound season, the yen-driven boom has not gone anywhere, and the second half of the month competes directly with domestic autumn travel and two public holidays. If your dates fall in the last ten days, book the hotel early.
| Window | Foliage | Crowds | Hotel rates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–8 Nov | Green in the city | Moderate | Moderate |
| 9–17 Nov | Mountains turning | Moderate | Moderate to high |
| 18–24 Nov | City starting | High | High |
| 25–30 Nov | Peak | Very high | Highest of the season |
The under-appreciated window is 9 to 17 November: the mountains have turned, Takao and the Kanto day trips are at their best, the city gardens have not yet hit their peak weekends, and illuminations are switching on. If you have to choose one week of November, choose that one.
If your dates are fixed for the last week, book everything early — hotels, any restaurant you care about, and the timed evening tickets for Rikugien. Our trip cost breakdown shows what the season does to a week’s budget, and best time to visit Tokyo compares November against the rest of the year properly.
What to pack
More than October, less than you would pack for a European November. Tokyo does not get properly cold until late December, and interiors are heated hard.
- A light-to-mid-weight coat. A wool overcoat or a decent insulated jacket. Not a parka.
- Layers underneath — long sleeves plus a jumper covers almost every day, and you will take the jumper off indoors.
- A scarf. Disproportionately useful for late-November mornings and evening illumination walks.
- Comfortable shoes with grip. Wet leaves on temple steps and the Takao trails are genuinely slippery.
- Sunglasses. The light is low, bright and directly in your eyes for much of the afternoon.
Skip thermals unless you are unusually cold-blooded, and skip the umbrella-first mentality of October. The full breakdown is in the Tokyo packing list.
How to structure a November week
- Early in the trip, on the clearest forecast day: get out of the city. Mount Takao, Nikko, Kamakura or Hakone — see our day trips from Tokyo. Clear November air gives good views of Fuji, and it does not last.
- Mornings: gardens and avenues before 09:00. Rikugien opens at 09:00, Shinjuku Gyoen at 09:00, the ginkgo avenue is a public street and open always.
- Afternoons: indoor and neighbourhood things — the museums in our best museums guide, department store basements, the backstreets of Yanaka.
- Evenings: illuminations from mid-month, or a garden’s night lighting in the last week, then dinner. It gets dark early by the end of November, which stretches the evening considerably.
The early sunset is worth planning for. In the last week the sun sets in what feels like mid-afternoon, so a late start leaves very little daylight. Front-load outdoor sightseeing and use the dark hours for food, illuminations and the gardens that light up.
Is November the right month?
Yes, if you want the best-looking version of Tokyo and are willing to pay for it and share it. The colour is genuinely spectacular, the weather is close to perfect, and from late November into early December you can see autumn foliage and the first illuminations on the same day.
No, if you are travelling on a budget or dislike crowds — Tokyo in October gives you mild weather without the late-November crush. And no if you are booking early November expecting autumn colour in the city, which is the single most common November mistake.
For what comes next, the Tokyo winter guide picks up in December, when the illuminations peak and the crowds briefly thin before New Year. To build the trip, start with the Tokyo travel planning guide.
The lights are worth their own plan rather than a bullet point. Start dates vary by venue (Roppongi Hills’ Christmas lights run from 5 November to 25 December in 2026), but the end of the month and the start of December give you full autumn colour by day and illumination after dark — our guide to Tokyo winter illuminations has the routes and the end dates.
November is also the best month for a night at a hot spring inn outside the city. The maples along the river at Shuzenji and in Hakone’s valleys turn while central Tokyo is still green, and an outdoor bath on a cold evening is at its best. Book early, though, because autumn weekends fill fast. Our guide to onsen ryokan near Tokyo has the options and prices.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do the autumn leaves peak in Tokyo?
Central Tokyo peaks from about 20 November into the first week of December. Mount Takao, an hour west, turns mid-to-late November. The Oku-Nikko highlands are much earlier, around mid-October. If you want city colour, aim for the last ten days of November and expect company.
Is November a good time to visit Tokyo?
It is one of the best months. Average highs fall from about 19°C to 14°C, rainfall is low at around 96 mm, and autumn colour peaks late in the month. The trade-offs are cost and crowds: the second half of the month is peak inbound season with two public holidays, so book early.
How cold does Tokyo get in November?
Mild at the start, properly cool by the end. Early November runs 18–19°C by day and 10–12°C overnight; the final week drops to 14–15°C by day and 6–7°C before dawn. Snow does not fall in Tokyo in November. A light-to-mid-weight coat with layers underneath covers the whole month.
What festivals happen in Tokyo in November?
Tori no Ichi kumade markets on the rooster days at Otori Shrine in Asakusa and Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku; Shichi-Go-San around 15 November, concentrated at Meiji Shrine; the Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Festival from mid-November; chrysanthemum displays at Shinjuku Gyoen and Yushima Tenjin; and Design Festa at Tokyo Big Sight on a mid-November weekend.
Are the winter illuminations on in November?
Yes. Roppongi Hills’ Christmas illumination runs from 5 November to 25 December in 2026, and the other big displays at Marunouchi, Shiodome and Yebisu Garden Place come on during the season, most of them in full swing by December. Late November into early December gives you autumn colour by day and illuminations after dark.
Photo Credits
- The ginkgo avenue at Meiji Jingu Gaien – Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Festival (53440770227) by Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Kumade rakes at the Tori no Ichi market, Hanazono Shrine – Hanazono shrine tori no ichi fair20251124 by Mozzucu, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.