Information for “Fukaya Halloween” with a popular tsume-hodai event at Roadside Station Okabe. All eyes are on Fukaya at the moment, with the opening of the much anticipated Fukaya Hanazono Premium outlets this month. But while Fukaya Hanazono Premium Outlets is trending online, the locals are looking to a moreRead More →
Information for the 43rd annual Tokorozawa Citizens Festival, a large and popular festival, at Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial park, near Tokyo. First up, an apology to my Facebook followers for posting that the Tokorozawa Citizens Festival was on last weekend! Thankfully, I had posted the poster for the festival so itRead More →
The Wako Citizens’ Festival is an autumn festival, held annually in November. The main festival is normally on for two days around the middle of November, with smaller events in the lead up to it, but in 2022 there will be just one main day. There will, however, be smallerRead More →
The Washinomiya area of Kuki is known for its cosmos in October (and its early blooming sakura in February!). The main cosmos area is along the “Fureai Road”, but there is also a field by the Washinomiya Support Center. In 2022, the latter has an “Anywhere Door” known as aRead More →
For the first time in three years: the Honjo Festival, ‘the best float festival on the Nakasendo’. The Honjo Festival is one of two festivals that take place in Honjo City in early November. The Kodama Autumn Festival takes place on the Culture Day public holiday, November 3rd, only. ButRead More →
Kawajima Town will host a sky lantern event in celebration of 50 years since the inauguration of the town. The Kawajima Sky Lantern festival will be held, the Saturday before Halloween, in Heisei no Mori Park, home to the longest rose tunnel in Japan. Please note, there are no lanternsRead More →
A selection of ten cosmos fields in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo. The list has to be altered quite a lot each year, for different reasons. For example, in 2021 and 2020, due to the pandemic several of the cosmos spots actually didn’t grow any cosmos. Before that, in 2019, typhoonRead More →
To share or not to share, that is always the question when you find an off the beaten path gingko tree spot in your neighborhood! Same thing happened with Shoboji’s legendary gingko tree, which eventually became a hot spot. The location was suited to it though and the temple welcomesRead More →
The very first night illumination I went to in Saitama, many years ago, was at the Keyaki Hiroba in Saitama Shintoshin. At the time it was one of only a handful of places that had a large scale night illumination display in Saitama. I had moved from Mito City inRead More →
The Kodama Autumn Festival is a traditional festival float festival that takes places on Culture Day annually. A highlight of the festival is the parade of sacred horses. Culture day is on November 3rd and is a public holiday in Japan. This festival centers around Hachiman Shrine. Kodama Autumn FestivalRead More →