A selection of 10 Strawberry Picking farms in Saitama, near and commutable from Tokyo, for the 2023 Ichigo-gari season. Strawberry Picking near Tokyo Strawberry picking is called “ichigo-gari” イチゴ狩り in Japanese. Ichigo イチゴ means strawberry and gari means picking or, literally, hunting. In Japan, strawberry picking is predominantly indoors, inRead More →
A selection of 10 flowers that bloom in Japan in January. I say it often, because it is true, but my favorite month in Japan is January. There is so much to do in Japan in January. And as it is one of the driest months of the year, itRead More →
Short notice, but I just heard myself earlier today that the Daruma Market in Eigenji, Sakado will be on tomorrow. If you missed the Daruma Market in Kawagoe, here is another chance to buy a Daruma for this year. But don’t worry if you can’t make this one either, thereRead More →
Thank you for 2022, Toshikoshi and Toshikoshi Oharai and Happy New Year – the year of the rabbit. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your readership and support in 2022. Thanks to you, “In Saitama” had its best year yet, in its 16 year historyRead More →
Information for the Cainz Super Mall, Kawajima Interchange, and its annual Rainbow Festival. The Rainbow Festival is a small local type mascot event, with the mascots from each of the Rainbow Cities of Saitama Prefecture. The Rainbow Cities are Kawajima, Kawagoe, Moroyama, Ogose, Sakado and Tsurugashima. More information about theRead More →
The International Fureai Fair is held around the east exit area of Urawa Station. It was cancelled in 2021 and in 2020 they just had an online event. For the real deal, there are lots of stalls in the area for the festival. Fureai has a meaning similar to ‘exchange’Read More →
In advance of the red spider lily (aka lycoris radiata, cluster amarilla, equinox flower, higanbana etc) season, a photo Friday post of red spider lilies along the Shingashi River. The spider lilies don’t bloom until September. All these photos are from between 2006 and 2022. Spider lilies Shingashi River TheRead More →
The John Deere Park is a work in progress, but it has huge potential. It is a “Satoyama” flower park in rural Hatoyama. A place unscathed by telephone or electrical wires, which is rare even in the Hiki District which is largely countryside. Initially, the ‘real’ name of the parkRead More →
Lalaport Fujimi is a large shopping center / mall with 293 shops including eateries, clothes shops, department stores, household stores, supermarket, niche &/or specialty shops and entertainment facilities. Entertainment facilities at Lalaport include such things as play areas and the Toho cinema. There are also two small playgrounds, a waterRead More →
Saitama Prefecture Day Information for Saitama Citizen’s Day or Prefecture Day or Saitama day, kenmin no hi 県民の日 in Japanese. Saitama Citizen’s day is on the 14th of November each year. Kenmin no Hi literally means citizen’s day, but when I first came to Japan and until very recently itRead More →