Rice Field Art, Ancient Lotus, Water lilies, Wintersweet, Plum Blossoms, Cherry Blossoms, Observation Tower, Nature Hall, Winter Illumination and Park (with small playground) at Kodai Hasu no Sato in Gyoda City. Also a popular spot to witness the first sunrise of the year. Kodai Hasu no Sato Kodai Hasu noRead More →
Unfortunately, for the second year in a row the unique Hirakata Gion Doroinkyo Mud Festival has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus. Hirakata Gion Doroinkyo Mud Festival The Hirakata Gion Doroinkyo Mud Festival is not only an “Only in Japan” festival, it is an “Only one of its kind” festival.Read More →
As of May 27th 2022, the Ageo Summer Festival is actually scheduled to go ahead in 2022. Ageo City cancelled it in 2021 due to the pandemic. Ageo Summer Festival They carry Mikoshi, portable shrines, around the streets of Ageo for the Ageo Summer Festival held annually in the middleRead More →
Summer Festival Shiki – Shiki City cancelled the event in both 2021 and 2022. This information is from a previous year. This post has not been updated in a few years. I hope to update it in time for the 2023 event which will hopefully go ahead as normal. ShikiRead More →
Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park is one of Saitama’s better known attractions. Located on the site of Japan’s first airfield (1911), it has been around for a long time and given its proximity to Tokyo and other popular tourist areas, it has always enjoyed a steady flow of customers and greatRead More →
This annual “mikoshi” (portable shrine) festival occurs in the Kodama area of Honjo City. It is the grand festival of Yasaka Shrine. It is usually on the same weekend as the Honjo Gion Festival¹, the weekend of “umi no hi”. Umi no Hi is an annual public holiday in Japan.Read More →
O park Ogose, formerly Opark / You Park and – like so many places in Japan – many other names. Until 2019 it was best known as You Park. It was also called “Little Indian Village”, “Ogose Fureai Center” and “Yu Park” (or Yuu Park) . However, with the renewalRead More →
There is nothing quite like seeing fireflies in the wild, in their natural habitat. Chichibu is one of the few locations in Saitama that you can do just that: behold the stunning scene of fireflies in unadulterated surroundings. Fireflies in Chichibu Fireflies in Chichibu featured photo and above photo is fromRead More →
Omiya Summer Festival at the west gate of the station is held annually on the 31st of July. However, due to the Coronavirus outbreak the event was not held in 2020 or 2021. It will not be held in 2022 either, but they will have the mikoshi (portable shrines) onRead More →
High on our long list of “must do” during the summer holidays in Japan is visit the local seasonal pool. This year we spent most of our summer holidays in Ireland. We only have a week of Japanese summer to cram in our favorite #summerinjapan things to do. Today wasRead More →