Lynda Hogan is a long term resident of Saitama Prefecture and has been promoting Saitama Prefecture voluntarily for the last 12 years. Lynda is an official Hikijin ambassador representing the seven towns of the Hiki District as well as Higashimatsuyama City and Higashichichibu Village. She has appeared on NHK Cool Japan's Saitama specials. She is also an administrator on the 79,000 member strong Japan Travel Friendly Discussion Group Facebook Group. Formerly she was the Saitama representative of the Association of Foreign Wives of Japan. She is currently a level 9 Google Local Guide, in the top 1% of local guides in all of Japan according to Google. Lynda is a long term contributor to Kyodo News Corporation’s City-cost.com website and more recently writes for Japan Travel, among other travel websites, too. If you would like to work with Lynda, please drop her a line here:
https://insaitama.com/contact-us/
Since the inauguration of this seasonal pinwheel display, each year I share information for the annual June event at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine. However, last year, I wrote a whole new post about the pinwheels, because they were up longer than normal due to the 100 year anniversary of Kawagoe City.Read More →
Information for the 2023 Tokigawa Iris Festival in Saitama, Japan. Tokigawa Iris Festival The Tokigawa Iris Festival is held at the Tokigawa Iris Garden, a relatively small iris garden with about 5,000 iris. The iris bloom around the first three weeks in June. As of May 28th 2023, some ofRead More →
A selection of three places you can see hydrangea in Koshigaya City, Saitama Prefecture (close to Tokyo), Japan. Hydrangea Koshigaya City 1. Hisaizu Shrine For about 480 meters, the approach to Koshigaya Hisaizu Shrine from the Motoara river bursts with color around mid June when the hundreds of hydrangea areRead More →
For the second year in a row, the Kisai Hydrangea Festival will be celebrated at Tamashiki Shrine park. Before the pandemic, this festival was held on hydrangea road. Kisai Hydrangea Festival 2023 There are several places you can see hydrangea in Kazo City. But the Kisai area is particularly renownedRead More →
Information for the newest large scale Bandai Official Gashapon opening in Japan in summer 2023. Gashapon Bandai Offical Kawajima Branch A Gashapon, also known as Gachapon, is a vending machine dispensed capsule toy. The term refers to both the machine and the capsule it dispenses with a miniature toy orRead More →
Information for the 14th annual Yashio Edamame (Green Soybean) Festival in Yashio City, in Eastern Saitama, very close to Adachi City in Tokyo. Yashio Edamame Festival Yashio City is one of the leading edamame producers in Saitama Prefecture. The city invite you to try their locally grown edamame with someRead More →
Information for the Blue Festival in 2023 in Kuki City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Kuki Blue Festival No, it’s not missing an “s” and its nothing to do with music; the blue festival in Kuki is in celebration of “blue” flowers that bloom at this time of year. However, in allRead More →
Each year Cocoon City have a “Pantastic” bread festival for ten days, at the end of spring into early summer. In Japan, bread is called ‘Pan’ hence the name of the festival… Cocoon City Pantastic Dozens of bakeries, patisseries and cafes from all over Saitama and Kanto participate in thisRead More →
The Sai no Kuni Cake Show is scheduled for the first time in four years. There are a few changes in 2023. Such as a new date and a new location. They used to hold the event in June, before the pandemic. This year (2023) they will host it inRead More →
For the last couple of years Ageo City have been replacing the playground at Ageo Sports Park. The old equipment is now almost all gone, but there is still two pieces that may or may not remain. Several pieces have been completely demolished including a cement monstrosity which was visuallyRead More →