Peony Festival at Yakyu Inari Shrine – Yakyu Inari Shrine is located in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama, just 1 hour and 10 minutes from Ikebukuro on the Tobu Tojo line. It is one of many shrines to the God Inari. However, what makes it special is that its Chinese characters (“Yakyu” 箭弓) are pronouncedRead More →
Daffodils in Gongendo Park, Saitama January 2021 Daffodils Saitama There are a few places renowned for their daffodils in Saitama, but I think Gongendo park is probably the best known of them all. It is one of the larger displays anyhow, with half a million daffodils grown in the parkRead More →
Satte Daffodil Festival (also known as the Narcissus Festival) in Gongendo Park, Satte, Saitama. Gongendo is a prefectural park in Satte, renowned for its seasonal flowers. Today, December 10th 2020, the park’s official website posted an announcement that the daffodil festival will not be held in 2021 on account ofRead More →
Cosmos Festival in Konosu The Cosmos Festival in Konosu normally takes place toward the end of October. However, this year – 2020 – on account of the Coronavirus outbreak the event has been cancelled. Official notification of cancellation here (click). Each year to mark the blooming of 12,000,000 cosmos in theRead More →
Visiting Japan’s largest lavender field at Sennen no Sono, close to Tokyo. Where the Ranzan Lavender festival is held annually in a beautiful rural town of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. (Please note that in 2021 there is no Lavender Festival and the fields are off limits). Sennen no Sono Lavender FieldRead More →
Konosu Poppy Festival 2021. Poppies and Baby Blue Eyes at Japan’s largest poppy field in 2021. Kounosu Poppy Festival is an annual event held in May in the Poppy Happy Square – Kōnosu City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It is part of a larger Kounosu Flower festival with open gardens. TheRead More →