For the first time in four years, Hanno will host their popular spring, aka cherry blossom, festival in 2023. Within Hanno, Hanno Central park and the area around Mt Tenran are particularly well known for their beautiful sakura trees. The festival is on in the former: Hanno Central Park. InRead More →
Before the pandemic, the 1300 year old Koma Shrine had two different cherry blossom festivals each year. One is a blessing for all the cherry blossoms in the precinct. It also celebrates the 300 year old Higanzakura and 400 year old weeping cherries on the grounds. It is normally heldRead More →
Hanno Hina – Almost every city and town in Japan display Hina dolls for the dolls festival leading up to girls day, March 3rd, annually. But some towns or cities celebrate the dolls festival in a bigger way. In Saitama the four cities best known for their dolls festival hinaRead More →
Metsa Village is the ‘free’ part of the Moominvalley theme park in Hanno, Saitama. Each year they have a Christmas market. In 2018 and 2019 they had a lot of additional events and Christmas decorations during the period. However, in 2021 there was just the food market. In 2022, theyRead More →
The Iruma Air base air show happens annually on the 3rd of November. November 3rd is a public holiday in Japan for Culture Day. This is a popular event that attracts between 100,000 (bad weather day) and 200,000 (good weather day) spectators annually. However, in both 2020 and 2021 theRead More →
The Hanno Festival is scheduled to take place this Autumn for the first time in three years. However, it will be a smaller festival than usual. The last time this festival took place was the 49th annual Hanno Festival and fireworks in 2019. However, in 2022, they are not planningRead More →
Iruma Mando Festival – Mando or Mandou 万燈 means 10,000 lights and is a type of Japanese lantern. For this, the biggest annual festival held in Iruma, the festival field is decorated with Mandou (pictured). There are a huge amount of events you can enjoy from traditional floats and music to modernRead More →
Kinchakuda is synonymous with “manjushage” red spider lilies in Saitama. Furthermore, it is the most famous of the three red spider lily festivals of Saitama. Moreover, the carpet of spiny red flowers is one of the most famous autumn scenes in all of Japan. There are also several other notableRead More →
To me, Kato Farm in Hidaka is a farm for the foodies, rather than the kiddies! It is a dairy farm that is quite small and, frankly, quite lackluster. But there is a reason their produce has won numerous awards over the years. They produce and sell premium milk andRead More →
In praise of Culture Cafe Grandir and 5½ other reasons to visit “Little America”, Johnson Town, in Saitama Prefecture. Johnson Town Johnson town, at the site of the former American military Johnson Air base, is a collection of stores, cafes & restaurants and private residences in Iruma City, Saitama Prefecture.Read More →