The Turkey Bazaar is a Turkish (mosaic) lamp shop in Kawagoe. It is located up a quaint alleyway off Ichibangai, the main tourist thoroughfare of “Little Edo” as Kawagoe is called. The shop has been there quite a few years, but in 2021 they opened a cafe across the pathRead More →
A selection of 10 Strawberry Picking farms in Saitama, near and commutable from Tokyo, for the 2023 Ichigo-gari season. Update May 30th 2023: strawberry picking season is now over at the majority of these farms. They will reopen for the 2024 season in winter. Strawberry Picking near Tokyo Strawberry pickingRead More →
For the first time in three years, Kitain Temple in Kawagoe will have their Setsubun Festival with a mamemaki bean throwing ceremony. Below you will find a first hand account of the setsubun celebration at Kitain Temple, as well as the information for the 2023 bean throwing ceremony. Setsubun celebrationsRead More →
A selection of 10 Strawberry Picking farms in the Northern area of Saitama, including Chichibu, for the 2024 strawberry picking season. Strawberry Picking Chichibu and Northern Saitama Finally… for the first time in four years, it looks like most of the strawberry farms are going back to pre-pandemic hours inRead More →
According to Yoshimi Town, not only will there be no Cosmos Festival in 2022, there will be no Cosmos Festival ever again. And they are not planning to even grow the cosmos this year or ever again. It is so sad, but who knows – maybe they will reconsider inRead More →
Yano Fishing Park is located in a valley in Kamikawa Town in the Northern (Kodama) area of Saitama Prefecture, right on the border of Gunma Prefecture. Kamikawa Town doesn’t get a lot of publicity. With the result it is one of the most unspoiled areas of Saitama Prefecture. However, KamikawaRead More →
Washi no Sato is a roadside station in Saitama’s last and only village, Higashichichibu. Moreover, it is one of the most famous places for traditional washi paper making, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. You can try your hand at the 1300 year old tradition at this quaint rest area inRead More →
Seasonal flowers at the Shimoyatsubayashi flower field where flower picking is allowed and free Flower picking Unlike in my home country, you can’t pick flowers in Japan unless you have permission to do so. Not even flowers growing on the side of the road. Like Singapore, Japan also frowns onRead More →
A selection of 12 Strawberry Picking farms in Western Saitama, for the 2023 strawberry picking season. Some of these farms are open from December 2022, which is included in the information below. Western Area There are five areas in Saitama: Central, Eastern, Western, Northern and Chichibu. The Western area ofRead More →
Kawagoe is famous for many things, not least its sweet potatoes. Even the city’s main mascot Tokimo is a mash (if you’ll pardon the pun!) of the sweet potato “imo” and the symbol of Kawagoe the bell tower “Toki”. Moreover, there is even a “Kawagoe Imo” which refers to sweetRead More →