Lynda Hogan is a long term resident of Saitama Prefecture and has been promoting Saitama Prefecture voluntarily for the last 17 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 100,000+ 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 also writes for several other travel websites, too. If you would like to work with Lynda, please drop a comment on any post or contact her here (please note due to the large volume of queries received, it is quicker to write a comment on a blog post for a prompt response) -
https://insaitama.com/contact-us/
For the first time in four years the real Santa Claus will be visiting Maruhiro in Kawagoe. He will also visit the branches in Ageo and Higashimatsuyama and brief information for those two locations is also included in this post. However, you need to reserve a place and pay inRead More →
The plan was for this post to be about the Christmas Lights in Sakado that I’ve heard so much about. However, having gone to visit them earlier in the week, I realized they really don’t deserve a post all of their own. So I decided to share the information alongRead More →
Twenty five places for night illumination in Saitama Prefecture in the winter of 2023 – 2024. Page 1 of 2 The winter lights are on. There are more than 50 places you can see winter lights / illumination in Saitama Prefecture. This post contains a selection of 25. Most ofRead More →
Each year in December Musashi Ichinomiya Hikawa Shrine, in Omiya Park, has a Daitosai Festival with a Tokamachi (Tokaichi¹) Market on one day. The Tokamachi is like a Tori no Ichi, both are markets held before the new year for good luck and prosperity in business in the New Year.Read More →
Last year for the first ever Christmas at Omiya Kadomachi they had a lovely Tonttu Christmas from Finland event and I am delighted to announce that it will be back in 2023. The period of the Tonttu Christmas starts on December 1st, but the main events are the weekend beforeRead More →
Kamikawa Town will have a Kirakira (Sparkling) Festival with fireworks in December. On the same night of the festival they will turn on the town’s Christmas lights for the 2023 season. Kamikawa Town is located in Northern Saitama. It is famous for a few different things, including a rare shrine,Read More →
Aeon Lake town Christmas 2023 – Illumination, Christmas Market and events, including Santa Claus Visit information. Unfortunately, for the 4th year in a row, there doesn’t appear to be an ice-rink, which used to be a popular event at the mall before the pandemic. Aeon Lake town is Japan’s largestRead More →
Hatago Coedoya hotel opened in Kawagoe during the pandemic, in July 2020. But more than a hotel, it is a Mecca for foodies, offering a trendy food court on the first floor. The food court is called Enmusubi Yokocho, or Enyoko for short, which translates to something similar to “Lover’sRead More →
Today, December 1st 2023, is Kawagoe Citizen’s Day. As I wrote on the December event round up, several places offer free entry to everyone – not just Kawagoe Citizens – on December 1st annually. However, when the day falls on a weekday, they also have the same offer on theRead More →
Each year in winter, Fukaya City have beautiful illumination displays around the city. Since last year, 2022, there are an additional two with the completion of two new, long awaited, facilities, for a total of five. Two of the five have an event post of their own, so I haveRead More →