Travel Story #2: The big bucket list Japan dream road trip: Chasing the fall foliage!
One thing to know about me is that I’m a big dreamer. I have huge, big, audacious dreams…,
Transforming dreams into beautiful memories
…, but I also chase my dreams with the intent to transform them into beautiful memories! And I succeed in that pretty well. This Travel Story showcases my grit to get it done.
I actually fulfilled one of my biggest bucket list dreams, and it was as glorious as I hoped it to be.
Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and join me in this travel story:
(more photographs from the camera in the slideshows lower in this article)
Chasing the fall foliage
Me and my lovely wife have visited Japan twice before in the spring. The first time was in March 2020 for two weeks, when C19 started (we were all alone at Mount Fuji, which was bizarre!), and later in 2023 again, where we stayed in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo for 3 whole months (I’m still sad that those months are over, it was such a wonderful time).
But we’ve never seen Japan in the fall, which is supposed to be the most beautiful season. They say sakura is pretty—which it is—but they also say seeing the fall foliage across the nation is even more magical, mainly because it’s eeeeeeverywhere you go. And we also wanted to see more of the charming countryside and picturesque towns of Japan, of which we heard so many good things for so long.
So we dreamed, sketched, searched, studied and planned out the ultimate bucketlist Japan roadtrip where we chase the fall foliage. The foliage moves from north Japan slowly to south Japan while the winter slowly starting creeping in, and you can actually drive along the changing fall foliage.
We planned meticulously for months in advance to build the perfect itinerary that crosses off all our desired hotspots, and of course to create an excellent photo series with hundreds of great photos, and a handful of bangers that will work as premium fine art prints!
And of course, fulfill one of our bucket list dream trips of doing a road trip across our favorite country in the world!
And boy, did that work out well.
The route, the costs and the details
We started on the 21st of November 2024 out in Tokyo where we picked up the campervan. We rented the campervan for 17 full days, and this was the route:
Tokyo > Mount Fuji > Matsumoto > Kanazawa > Shirakawa-Go > Nakasendo Trail > Lake Biwa > Kyoto > Nara > Shizuoka > Mount Fuji > Kamakura > Tokyo.
The whole ride was roughly about +- 2000km’s, and we drove about 35 hours in total, give or take an average of 2 hours of driving per day.
For the life of me, I can’t recall the exact costs, but here is a rough estimate which is surely give or take about right. This is for two persons:
Campervan 17 day rent: 1300 USD
Toll: 400
Gas: 300
Campingspots: 100
Tickets/fun: 200
Details/unforeseen: 200
Food/groceries: 500
A total of about 3000 dollars it costed us for this 17-day epic roadtrip, excluding the plane tickets. So, realizing a dreamtrip like this is quite feasable!
So many highlights and moments
It’s impossible to sum up the thousand highlights and moments you encounter and experience along the way through atmospheric Japan.
You could fill up a whole book, but I’ll keep it short for this blog with a fun little summarization to get the gist of it: We camped out in the middle of Tokyo, gawked in awe at a clear prestine Mount Fuji at the crack of dawn, saw the old atmospheric headquarters of the samurai, completed the Nakasendo trial hike, raided dozens of vending machines, crossed the most picturesque old villages, visited a dozen serene zen gardens and parks, visited massive sentos where I was the only butt-naked Westerner amongst a hundred butt-naked Japanese men, woke up before sunrise to have tourist hotspots like Fushimi Inari all to ourselves, drank the best latte ever at the original first %Arabica store in Arashiyama, got chased by obsessed deer in Nara, got our breath taken by the blazing fast shinkansen flying by, kept checking the side mirror to see Mount Fuji popping up behind us, sat in a blazing hot onsen with Fuji as my view, and witnessed multiple unforgettable sunsets that we still cherish to this day.
It was all-in-all, truly amazing. I still have a hard time actually grasping the fact that we actually all did this. We actually did it...
* Big sigh… *
Feasted!
We also feasted like piggies on this epic roadtrip; giant plates filled with katsu and curry at Coco Ichibanya, belly-warming ramen bowls at Ichiran, chunky onigiris from 711, famichicki’s at Family Mart, and train cargo’s filled with sushi at Kura.
And we had Hokkaido icecream, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, A5 wagyu beef, tamago on a stick, and so on and so on. Yeah, we weren’t getting any lighter on this trip! :D
My stomach is growling while I write this. I miss Japan so much, especially the fantastic food!
Was it all perfect?!
Oh no, nooo. Noooo haha. When we arrived in the mountains of Nagano, it was superrrrcold. We barely got through the night, while wearing 7 layers of clothing. We slept with our wintercaps on and in double layers of blankets and a big sleeping bag.
So, come prepared for those chilly nights if you consider this trip. Later we discovered the awesome heatpacks you can buy at the konbinis, which have made these cold nights and mornings just fine.
And we didn’t know and didn’t expect it beforehand, but the toll roads in Japan are the most expensive in the world, and they are eeeeeeeverywhere you go. If you don’t take them, your time on the road doubles right away. And we didn’t have the luxury of driving so many hours extra per day, so we had to take the toll roads. This costed us about 400 dollars extra in unexpected costs. Oops :S
And last but not least, the Japanese can be quite tough when you as a gajin/foreigner don’t follow their exact playbook of social conduct. Although I thought I knew how to behave, they always have some sort of social rule of conduct a Westerner has no clue about, and they will point it out to you. And by pointing it out, they will call you out in front of everybody that you made a tiny little faux pas.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Japanese decency. It’s the best thing about them, but it is also their biggest downside. They can be so rigid in their ways, that they even shoot themselves in the foot. It would be a very good thing for them to relax a little bit more, not just for me as a silly big gajin, but especially for themselves. They take life a bit too seriously if you ask me…
But, all in all, these are tiny downsides that are a part of traveling the world and turning your dreams into memories. It’s never perfect.
And that’s why I have a tattoo of Wabi Sabi on my left back elbow :)
The Photos (!)
The main reason to undertake this journey was not alone to fulfill our bucket list dream, but also to take a whole set of impressive photographs that can be licensed by brands, or bought as premium fine art by art collectors.
I’ve shot over 2000 photos, of which 1750 got deleted. Of those 250 left, about 150 were pretty good. Of those 100 left, about 97 are excellent for licensing and such. And 4 photographs were absolute bangers that have been selected as premium 1/1 fine art (you can find them here: Mighty Fuji, Perfect Serenity, Torii, and Mt Fuji x Shinkansen).
Perfect for licensing
The dozens of fall foliage photographs are available for licensing for brands to use for social media, websites, promotions, advertisements, and so on. But I have also made multiple photo series that can be licensed, see them all there:
>> License Japan Photos
>> License Japan fall foliage Photos
>> License Japan Textures Photos
>> License Nakasendo Trail Photos
You can see many of these shots highlighted here, with a focus on the fall foliage in these slideshows below:
The best Japan photographs
I have highlighted some of the best fall foliage photographs here, but you can also check out all of the Japan photographs I’ve made. You can see all my shots from Japan here in my portfolio:
My Portfolio Japan Photos >>
The Youtube slideshow
Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy these 2.5 calming minutes of photography in the most beautiful country in the world. This is Japan captured in about 25 atmospheric photos:
All-in, full-focus, to get what you want
This epic Japan bucket list roadtrip was a dream come true, and I am so content and happy that it all worked out. It’s another confirmation for me that if you want something, go all-in, have your full focus pinpointed to make sure this becomes your reality, and chase it nonstop for months on end, that you will get what you want. The Law of Attraction seems to work for me very well.
I want to take this moment to thank Japan for being yet again wonderful, magical, and most of all so very decent. Japan is truly the best country in the world if you ask me. I’ve spent 6 months in total in Japan in three different visits, and I loved every day of being here. I miss Japan every day I’m not there. I can’t wait to be back soon. I’m eyeing Okinawa and Fukuoaka for my next visit!
But wait…, there’s more! :)
This is ‘Mighty Fuji’
And… last but not least, I wanted to share this glorious moment with you, the highlight of the entire trip, because I shot my favorite landscape photograph during this epic journey. The cherry on top of the cake!
Meet ‘Mighty Fuji'“, my most magical photograph:
The perfect conditions
It’s pretty rare to get Mt Fuji without clouds covering its top and base, but I was blessed with perfect weather conditions on the days that I was there. Having Mt Fuji like that is a gift that I for sure cherished by driving all around the area for the best angles, getting up at the crack of dawn with -1 temperatures, and taking hundreds of shots to find the absolute winner.
To my amazement, I found dozens of photographers all lined up to take the same exact shot. Not the shot that I took, but all the same ‘clean and naked’ shot of Mt Fuji. No foreground and no other interesting details to enhance the shot, just Fuji. It felt so standard and so bland to just take the same shot as the rest. I felt like taking a school portrait of a kid. I’ve never felt so unoriginal when I stood there…
So, I decided to find unique angles that nobody was composing, and after scouting the whole area and trying to find the most gorgeous frame-filling landscape photograph, I found ‘Mighty Fuji’!
What I like about this photograph
I’ve shot hundreds of photos of Fuji from all angles, but this one just stands out. It’s so majestic!
The layered-ness of this shot (the lake and the forests in the front, the glorious cloud-free Mt Fuji in the middle, and the red leaves in the top) makes it so mesmerizing to look at.
I love that the early morning sun was shining on the right side of the snowy top, giving it that golden glow. Like a crown on a King!
Japan is my favorite country in the world, and Mt Fuji is my favorite place in the world, so I feel so honored and content to have documented Mt Fuji this way. Of all my photographs ever composed, this is the one I am the proudest of. I truly feel I have honored Mt Fuji with this photograph.
The 1/1 Premium Fine Art of ‘Mighty Fuji’
I’ve turned this magical photograph into a 1/1 Fine Art, which means that there will only be one ever made. The one and only, one and done, sold is sold. You could be the sole owner of this premium art piece. This guaranteed conversation starter will impress every visitor in your space!
And it’s museum-quality frames, glass, and print. It includes the (optional) NFT for verification to know it's the real deal, and it’s huge in size to impress everyone who sees it (a whopping 150x100cm!).
But wait…, there’s more! :)
‘Perfect Serenity’ - 1/1
Step into the quiet magic of a hidden forest in Japan with this Exclusive Limited Edition Fine Art Print (only 1 available, ever!).
This photograph, taken near Kanazawa, captures a serene, moss-covered haven, where sunlight filters through the trees to illuminate an ancient Japanese bench—a place that seems made for deep conversations and quiet reflections.
The atmosphere is otherworldly yet grounding, inviting you to pause, breathe, and contemplate life’s mysteries. It’s the kind of scene that feels like it belongs in a story, where the beauty of nature and the whispers of time converge. Whether you’ve been to such a place or simply dream of it, this image brings that peaceful energy into your home.
‘Mount Fuji x Shinkansen’ - 1/1
The Japanese have dozens of reasons to be proud of their amazing country, culture, and heritage. But if you ask them yourselves they would say that they are most proud of their beloved Mount Fuji and their blazing-fast bullet trains.
‘Torii’ - 1/1
This serene moment in time showcases the timeless beauty and serenity of the torii gates at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. The endless path of beautiful orange-red colored gates, framed by the soft light filtering through the forest, evokes a sense of spiritual tranquility and wonder.
A symbol of passage and connection to the divine, this piece invites you to step into a world of harmony and reflection.
If you prefer quality and rarity
The price point might seem like a lot to some, but this unique and powerful art piece is a one of a kind. It’s no cheap IKEA print for 40 bucks that has endless supply and also hangs in your aunt’s house.
This is one for the true art collectors among us.
If you prefer craftsmanship, the best high-quality materials, and true rarity, then you are in the right place. We carefully curated and found the most premium frame, paper, and glass for this exclusive fine art:
+ The most expensive and beautiful paper: FujiFlex Crystal Archive!
+ Museum-quality glass with no reflections
+ Gallery-quality frames (black oak 40mm Hamburg)
+ Framed by German master framers
+ One epic size: 105x70cm / 41x28 inches
(total size with frame is 118.7x83,7cm / 46.7 x 32.9 inches)
+ With black frame and white Passe-Partout: The classic and worthy look
+ You receive the complete package: ready to hang right away
You, your space, and this unique and rare fine art deserve the very best.
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Read More: “Travel Story #1: All alone at Mount Fuji… (during the outbreak of C19)” >>
