Autumn leaves 紅葉 (koyo/ kōyō) Festival at the Ranzan valley / Gorge in 2025. Ranzan Valley¹ is a beautiful nature spot with several hiking routes in the Hiki area of Saitama Prefecture. It is particularly popular in Autumn when the leaves are in various shades of red, yellow and green.Read More →
Kitamoto Mizube (Waterside) Plaza Park is a water play area in a large open area by the Arakawa River. It is not really a park, in the typical sense, but possibly they are planning to develop it into a park. The water play area is quite nice, but my biggestRead More →
Finally, one of Saitama’s most popular riverside barbecue (BBQ) and river play areas will reopen this summer in Higashimatsuyama. Kurakake Clear Stream Village, a scenic BBQ spot by the Toki River, was closed for three long years due to damage from a typhoon in July 2022. The city had plannedRead More →
Thanks to my son’s soccer club I have visited sports parks around the prefecture that I otherwise probably would have never stepped foot in. However, I had been to the park in this post several times, because up until the pandemic it had a really great outdoor pool in theRead More →
Torii x higanbana at a shrine in Kumagaya – Today on my way from Yoshimi’s higanbana to a completely different higanbana shrine I came across this abandoned shrine with stunning higanbana in bloom. I struggled with the lighting so unfortunately the photos aren’t great. But I just love higanbana xRead More →
You can see Autumn colors in Wako Jurin Park from around mid October to early December annually. However, the highlight of the autumn scenery is the Kochia and they are usually at their best around mid to late October! Last year, I visited at the end of November, so IRead More →
Information for Saitama Tougetsuen Campsite, a campsite in Saitama City on the grounds of the former ‘Forest of Horses and Art’ ! The Forest of Horses and Art was destroyed by typhoon number 19, aka Hagibis, in the Autumn of 2019. Therefore, much of the area was off limits forRead More →
Summer Holidays / Summer in Saitama 2024. Here is a selection of events, activities and seasonal offerings you can enjoy in Saitama Prefecture in the summer of 2024. The list is slightly different to 2023, so even if you’ve seen the 2023 list you will find some new ideas /Read More →
Information for the New branch of Glin Coffee near Kawagoe’s famous sunflowers and with secret sunflowers of their own! At the newly reopened Kawagoe Agriculture Interaction Center promoting “Green Tourism”. This post also contains event information. Quick update 2025: the sunflowers are in bloom now and the field can beRead More →
Honjo is quite far from us so its a city I didn’t visit much when the kids were very small. However, since all four of my kids started elementary school last year, I’ve been several times. And I will keep going back, as there is quite a lot to discoverRead More →