Earlier this month, Japanese photographer ueda (@fuehrsn) posted stunning shots of the Tsuta Seven Lakes area in Towada, Aomori Prefecture on his Twitter account. As you can imagine, with its lush beech tree forests lining the lakes in this pristine, beautiful natural environment, the fall foliage is stunning at this time of year.

Reproduced with permission from ueda (@fuehrsn)

The Tsuta Seven Lakes 蔦の七沼 describes the Kagaminuma 蔦沼, Tsukinuma 月沼, Hyotannuma ひょうたん沼, Suganuma 菅沼, Naganuma 長沼 and Akanuma 赤沼 ponds.

When the beech trees, splendidly bedecked in their fiery fall foliage, are reflected in the surface of the lakes, it provides a photo opportunity unlike any other, and ueda had his trusty NIKON Z6 camera to capture the moment. Playing with the name of the prefecture Aomori 青森県, written with the kanji for "blue" and "forest," and replacing the ao with aka 赤, meaning "red," he wrote: "I think you can call it 'Akamori' Prefecture, not Aomori Prefecture."

In addition to Kagaminuma, which you can see above, he also took photos of Akanuma:

Reproduced with permission from ueda (@fuehrsn)

The breathtaking photos inspired numerous comments, such as:

  • "What wonderful fall foliage. It's so beautiful, I could help but smile."
  • "I've never seen such a splendid red color. I really want to go."
  • "It's so beautiful... I think you can temporarily call it Akamori Prefecture."

If you'd like to enjoy more of ueda's wonderful photography, please follow him on Twitter.


If you're planning on making a trip to the region to capture this view for yourself, you'll have to wait for next year since they were on a reservation system due to the pandemic this year and the seats have already been filled. However, you can contact the Tsutayacho no Mori Visitor Centre to plan your visit next year.

Although you can't be there in person (even if you live in Japan), you can watch the sun rise over Kagaminuma from October 22nd to 27th during the peak season through this live stream:


By - Ben K.