A new branch of Kona’s Coffee Hawaiian Pancake House opened this month in Kazo City. There is a whole new development in the area where it opened: around Viva Home in the Shimotakayanagi area of Kazo. Kona’s Coffee is a Hawaiian style pancake and coffee house restaurant with branches all over Japan. The Kona’s Coffee aren’t particularly child friendly in […]
Rice Field Art, Ancient Lotus, Cherry Blossoms, Observation Tower, Nature Hall, Winter Illumination and Park (with small playground) at Kodai Hasu no Sato in Gyoda The city of Gyoda was virtually unknown to foreign tourists just a decade ago. It wasn’t particularly popular among Japanese tourists either, until a number of events and discoveries put Gyoda firmly on the tourist’s […]
High on our long list of “must do” during the summer holidays in Japan is visit the local seasonal pool. This year we spent most of our summer holidays in Ireland. We only have a week of Japanese summer to cram in our favorite #summerinjapan things to do. Today was the perfect opportunity to tick “seasonal pool” off our list […]
You know your city gets the tourism seal of approval when they open a Trick Art Museum! All the great tourist cities have one; Odaiba, Takao, Atami, Karuizawa to name but a few. The most recent addition to the honor roll: Kawagoe. The Kawagoe Trick Art Museum, at the crossroads of Fudanotsuji, was opened in April of this year. It […]
Ishihara Mokkokan is a small mall of eateries and galleries near the Penny Candy Alley area of Kawagoe. Despite its location it is somewhat off the beaten track and mainly enjoyed by locals. There are two reasons for this. One is that it is not on many of the tourist / history walking maps for Kawagoe. The other is that […]
Musashi No Mura is an ideal amusement park for small children. They have a really good selection of amusements that are child friendly. There is also an area with farm animals and and an option to horse ride. You can pick fruits at certain times of year and in summer they have pools, a water play park, beetles and snow […]
Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park is one of Saitama’s better known attractions. It has been around for a long time and given its proximity to Tokyo and other popular tourist areas, it has always enjoyed a steady flow of customers and great reviews. It is a great place for a family day out, especially on a fine day, but it is […]
Seen as today is the 10 year anniversary of Saitama With Kids, I wanted to get at least one post out of the dozens of unpublished drafts! Visiting Kurosuke’s House in the Totoro Forests was one of our favourite days out so far this year (2018). I previously wrote how we visited the Totoro Forests when the Totoro house was […]
Like so many places in Japan, You Park Ogose goes by many names, “Little Indian Village”, “Ogose Fureai Center” and “Yu Park” (or Yuu Park) have been the most commonly used over the years. However, with the renewal open in April, they have cleverly chosen to go with just one; a pun on Yuu (for hot water), You Park Ogose […]
Cafe Puisto in Tove Jansson’s Akebono Children’s Forest Park, aka Moomin Valley, which will continue to be the free part of the Metsa Moomin Theme Park opening sometime in the near future… Once upon a time there was a untainted secret children’s forest in the lush hills of Hanno. Some bloggers, myself included, tried to unveil its charms to whomever […]