24. Kasegawa (Saga)

Photographer’s comments: It is seven in the morning and one hot-air balloon after another rises up into the sky. Along with 800,000 other spectators, I watch enthralled as the colorful balloons float gently over the autumn landscape, their colors reflecting beautifully in the surface of the water.

River data: From its source in the Sefuri mountain range, flows down through the mountains, passing through the Saga plains and into the Ariake Sea. Downstream Saga City hosts Asia’s biggest hot-air balloon festival every November. Length: 57km; Grade-one river.