February in Saitama, 2023. There are some exclusive events and seasonal traditions that you can enjoy in Japan in the month of February. Between 2020 and 2022 there was slightly less to do, as many of the special / seasonal events didn’t go ahead. But the situation is much betterRead More →
Daffodil Festival (also known as the Narcissus Festival) in Gongendo Park, Satte, Saitama in 2023. Each year in winter, from early January until around early February, thousands of daffodils and narcissus grow in the number four park of Satte Gongendo Park. The daffodil were first planted in 2005 and theirRead More →
Kawazuzakura are an early blooming, pink cherry blossom. They normally bloom from around the third week in February to early March, generally speaking. There are locations where they bloom earlier and places where they bloom later. However, in Saitama Prefecture the kawazuzakura are more fickle than the main variety ofRead More →
A selection of 10 flowers that bloom in Japan in January. I say it often, because it is true, but my favorite month in Japan is January. There is so much to do in Japan in January. And as it is one of the driest months of the year, itRead More →
Iwadono Shohoji is a small mountainside temple, known for its Purple or ‘Mitsuba’ Azalea, in Tokigawa Town. I was updating the information for the 2023 Kasa natural ice rink in Tokigawa town today. Which reminded me that Shohoji temple is one of more than 300 posts I have sitting inRead More →
The Washinomiya area of Kuki is known for its cosmos in October (and its early blooming sakura in February!). The main cosmos area is along the “Fureai Road”, but there is also a field by the Washinomiya Support Center. In 2022, the latter has an “Anywhere Door” known as aRead More →
A selection of ten cosmos fields in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo. The list has to be altered quite a lot each year, for different reasons. For example, in 2021 and 2020, due to the pandemic several of the cosmos spots actually didn’t grow any cosmos. Before that, in 2019, typhoonRead More →
The Fujimi Cosmos walkway along the Shingashi River is blooming lovely today. It is close to the Mizumiya “frog” shrine which has recently undergone a stunning transformation. In addition, Mizuko Kaizuka park in the area is an archeological site that preserves the land of a former Jomon period village. TheyRead More →
A notable absence from the blog all these years, the cosmos at Kazo Miraikan has been on my “must visit” list for far too long! I finally visited yesterday. And while they were nothing like I had expected, that is not necessarily a bad thing! From the photos I’ve seenRead More →
Once an off the beaten path spot for Spider lilies (aka Lycoris, Cluster Amaryllis, Equinox flower etc) in Yoshimi Town in the Hiki District of Saitama Prefecture. Where they have not just one, but two separate spider lily flower displays. One of which blooms earlier than everywhere else. In 2021Read More →