Information for the 2023 Higashi Okubo Nanohana Matsuri, aka Canola / Rapeseed Festival, in Fujimi City. A highlight of this festival is a hot air balloon ride that affords panoramic views of the canola fields from above.
Higashi Okubo Canola Fields
There are acres of “Nanohana” 菜の花 in the Higashi Okubo area of Fujimi City. They are located close to Bin Numa Marsh – the Fujimi one! There are two Bin Numa Marsh parks about a kilometer apart, as the crow flies. But one is in Kawagoe and the other in Fujimi. Both border Saitama City’s Nishi (West) Ward. The Binnuma River marks the border of the cities. There is also canola flowers along the embankments of the Binnuma River. The canola flowers in this area typically bloom from mid March to around Mid April.
From the Prefectural Tourism Office
The Higashi Okubo Canola fields are located south of the Fujimi Bin Numa Marsh. There are sections where you can see the canola flowers backdropped by the cherry blossoms of Bin Numa Marsh park. But this year, the cherry blossoms bloomed early and will probably be green by the time of the one day canola flower festival on Sunday April 9th 2023.
Festival
- Chindon’ya (Oi Chindon) – a type of traditional musical street performing entertainment group.
- Food / vegetable stalls
- Test drive an agricultural machine!
- Go up in a moored Hot Air Balloon – 800 yen for adults, 500 yen for children. (It will not go ahead if there is rain / high winds).
- Free canola flower picking. You can pick the flowers now too – from March 19th to April 9th. >>Another place for free canola flower picking<<
>>Nanbata Castle Park is about a 20 minute walk from the main festival area<<
Information
Event: Higashi Okubo Canola Festival 東大久保菜の花フェスタ 2023
Date: Sunday April 9th
Hours: 9 am to 2 pm
Cost: free to enter the venue and ride on an agricultural vehicle. 800 yen to go up in the hot air ballloon.
Venue: Higashi Okubo Canola Fields, Higashiokubo, Fujimi, Saitama 354-0001. View on Google Maps.
Access
You can get the “Senior Citizen line” loop bus from the east exit of Tobu Tojo Line’s Tsuruse station. Alight at Higashi Okubo Naka 『東大久保中』. You can also get a bus bound for Lalaport from JR Omiya Station’s west exit and alight at Minamihata 『南畑界』. The fields are about a four minute walk from that bus stop. There is no official parking advertised for the festival.
The featured image is from the official event web page.
Editor’s note: this post was temporarily off the website during the pandemic. It was republished on April 4th 2023.
lol the mascots! SO Japanese!
And it’s frigging contagious – even I get mascot ‘fever’ sometimes XD