Kumagaya Uchiwa Festival is one of the Kanto area’s largest summer festivals. It is on from July 20th – 22nd annually. Uchiwa means fan, as in a hand held fan used to cool down in the summer. Therefore, sometimes people call the festival Kumagaya Fan Festival in English. In 2019, theRead More →
Konosu Summer Festival. A festival with more than a hundred years of history on one of Japan’s most famous trails – the Nakasendo. Twelve “mikoshi”, which are a palanquin or portable shrine, are carried 3 kilometers down a pedestrianized area near Konosu station. There is a children’s mikoshi event too. TheRead More →
Honjo Gion Festival – This festival normally occurs every year on the 2 days preceding “umi no hi”, an annual holiday in Japan. However, in both 2020 and 2021 the event was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Hopefully the event will be able to go ahead in 2022. The featuredRead More →
The Musket Shooting AND park festival at Nanbata Castle Park did not go ahead in both 2020 and 2021 on account of the Coronavirus. Here’s hoping we will be able to enjoy this unique festival again in 2022. Musket shooting festival at Nanbata Castle Park – Japan is a countryRead More →
The next Kasukabe Big Kite Festival is scheduled for May 3rd 2022. There are always two dates. The second, all things equal, will be May 5th. However, please note they cancelled the festival in both 2020 and 2021 on account of the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19. The big kite festivalRead More →
The Kazo Heiwa or Peace Festival is held on May 3rd annually. May 3rd is a national public holiday that falls during Golden Week. The festival is a type of spring festival, but the highlight is the jumbo carp streamer. It is the world’s longest carp shaped windsock. The carpRead More →
Water Play Shinrin Park – not open in 2020 or 2021 on account of the Coronavirus. One of the better (non-swimming-pool) water play areas in Saitama is in Shinrin Park. There are two separate places you can play with water in Shinrin Park, both near the West Gate where mostRead More →
The Kasukabe Wisteria Festival was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021. However, the Wisteria of Ushijima – Tokaen (also in Kasukabe city) was open to the public. It is highly likely that it will be able to open in 2022 too. I will update closer to the time. Every yearRead More →
Tentative information for the Floating dolls of Iwatsuki in 2021. A truly enchanting event of the Dolls festival is the floating dolls of Iwatsuki. The dolls festival is celebrated every year on the 3rd of March in homes where there are girls. People display their hina dolls leading up toRead More →
Setsubun Kijin Shrine is one of only a few shinto shrines in all of Japan that worships “oni” – Japanese demons or ogres. Kijin is written with the Kanji – Chinese characters – of demon and God. It is not a particularly large shrine, nor is it particularly aesthetic. ButRead More →