The “Hanachozu Week” in Gyoda often features on local and even national news, as well as on social media platforms. The “Hanachozu Week” is actually two weeks long monthly. It is on the first two weeks of each month. During the period there are dozens of “hanachozu” floral water fontsRead More →
The Naked Men Festival, Kamikawa, Saitama. Naked Men Festival The naked men festival is on the 19th of November annually, in Kamikawa town, Saitama prefecture. And during the time the festival is on there is also a winter cherry blossom festival on a ten minute drive away. The cherry blossomsRead More →
The Chichibu area is known for its Dahlia. The Dahlia Garden at Mt Ryokami Fumoto Hana no Sato is one of the largest and most popular places to see Dahlia in Saitama. The garden have confirmed that they will open to the public in 2021. Mt Ryokami Dahlia Garden TheRead More →
The 2021 Inohana Amazake Festival is cancelled. Inohana Amazake Festival or Inohana Sweet Sake Festival is one of those “only in Japan” type of festivals. And even within that category it is one of the more unusual ones. Near naked men, donning only a lion cloth, throw sake at eachRead More →
Unfortunately due to the Coronavirus outbreak the pools did not open in 2020. And they have confirmed that they will not open in 2021 either. Toda Summer Pool for kids at Kodomo No Kuni. Kodomo no Kuni is the name of the Children’s Center in Toda city, Saitama. Among theirRead More →
The Nakasendo matsuri is just one of many festivals that is normally held in Omiya at the end of July and start of August each summer. They are collectively called “Omiya Summer Festival”. Unfortunately, but understandably, they were all cancelled in 2020 due to the Coronavirus outbreak. And just thisRead More →
The Okegawa Gion Festival has been celebrated for the last 280 years. Okegawa city is not a particularly famous or popular city in contemporary society, but once upon a time it was a key commercial hub along the Nakasendo Path. The Nakasendo Road was like a highway that connected KyotoRead More →
Every September in the City of Kazo there is a fire walking ceremony, 柴燈護摩火渡り式, steeped in ritual and history, held at Sougan-ji Temple in Kazo City. Currently, the festival has not yet been cancelled for 2021, but there is every chance it will be cancelled in the coming weeks. PleaseRead More →
For the second year in a row the Kita Urawa Awa Odori event has been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. Summer maybe officially over, but there are still a couple of lingering summer festivals on in Saitama this weekend. For one, the Kita Urawa Awa Odori competition as partRead More →
The Tanabata Festival (Star Festival) is normally held from August 4th to August 7th annually in Hikawa Shrine Kawagoe. They have a Wind Chime event simultaneously. In 2020, due to the Coronavirus, they did not open the religious services to the public, just priests. But they did have the stripsRead More →