Monomi Hill / Monomiyama Park in Higashimatsuyama in Autumn and Spring Monomiyama park The Monomiyama* Park is a hilltop park in the Iwadono area of Higashimatsuyama. The park was initially just a viewpoint. Higashimatsuyama city developed a park around it in recent years. Moreover, it is also part of aRead More →
Shoboji’s Legendary Gingko Tree at Shoboji Temple aka Iwadono Kannon in the Iwadono area of Higashimatsuyama ( previously Hatoyama). This post also contains information for the annual light up of the famous tree. As of December 4th 2024 the tree is 75% golden. Previously I wrote about a summer drive weRead More →
Information for one of Saitama’s most famous campsites: the scenic, riverside Nagatoro Auto campground. In 2025, they are will open from January 18th for winter, on Friday nights only, and will reopen properly from March 1st 2025. Please note that while I have updated this post with the 2025 information,Read More →
Parks in Kawagoe – Oisezuka Park on the outskirts of Kawagoe, near Tsurugashima and Sakado Cities. It is relatively close to Kawajiama Town too. It is neither the largest nor the most popular, but it has a few things going for it that bring a regular stream of visitors. Moreover,Read More →
One of my friends famously said “If you’ve seen one temple, you’ve seen them all”. There is a truth in that. However, I am quite “into” temples (and shrines). And for me, the magnificence of a temple doesn’t always lie in its appearance, but rather in the history and meaning.Read More →
Gojo waterfall, Hidaka. When I first wrote this post in 2016 there was no information in English anywhere around the web. I looked up information in Japanese and it said that the falls are named after The five virtues of Confucius, which is written “gojou” or “gojyou” in English. ButRead More →
Kuki Shobu Park is a prefectural park that is best known for the lake that it is centered around. It is quite picturesque so you often see photos of it on Instagram. Particularly since they put in an “Anywhere Door“. Although, it is not very big and there isn’t aRead More →
Kawagoe Kita-in Temple’s autumn leaves are the most famous in Kawagoe, but if you would like to see some golden leaves too there are a few places you can see them. Such as the three shrines in this post – Shusse Inari, Ukishima and Mutsuzuka (Mutsuduka) Inari. There are alsoRead More →
Besshonuma Park, Minami Ward, Saitama City – a great park for families all year round, with a lovely playground. It is particularly popular in Autumn when the trees around the lake are shades of yellow, orange, red and green. But the really does look very picturesque all year round. BesshonumaRead More →
Akiha no mori Park – We stumbled across this park by accident while taking a respite from visiting a relative in nearby Saitama Iriyo Center. Unless you find it by accident as we did, you would need a car and a satnav (GPS) to get to this rural park inRead More →