Kurakake Clear Stream Village: River BBQ and water play at Kurakake barbecue site in Higashimatsuyama, commutable from Tokyo on a day trip. Booking for the 2022 barbecue season at Kurakake will start on Tuesday March 1st. The season itself starts 11 days later on Saturday March 12th and will remainRead More →
Kitchen Cafe Cranbon, the old barnhouse, Higashimatsuyama… “A holy place for Instagram” is what Localina referred to Kitchen Cafe Cranbon as. A very literal translation of 「インスタの聖地」. In English we might refer to it more naturally as a mecca for IGers. Or even simpler again “instagrammable”. Whatever way you interpretRead More →
Garden and Cafe Prunus, Higashimatsuyama, piqued my interest when I saw a photo of it in a Moteco issue a couple of years ago. It wasn’t so much the food as the building that grabbed my attention. It is a fetching cross of English country meets Swiss chalet. Perched onRead More →
Young children love the children’s castle at Saitama Children’s Zoo. It is not particularly large and not particularly modern, but there is a charm about it that appeals to children of preschool age or younger. Not least of all that for all intents and purposes it is a castle, madeRead More →
Monomi Hill / Monomiyama Park in Higashimatsuyama in Autumn and Spring Monomiyama park The Monomiyama* Park is a hilltop park in the Iwadono area of Higashimatsuyama. The park was initially just a viewpoint. Higashimatsuyama city developed a park around it in recent years. Moreover, it is also part of aRead More →
Shoboji’s Legendary Gingko Tree at Shoboji Temple, Iwadono, Higashimatsuyama ( previously Hatoyama) Previously I wrote about a summer drive we took in the Hatoyama and Higashimatsuyama area where I saw the most impressive gingko tree I’ve ever seen. Last Autumn we revisited the area to witness the famed Autumn colours inRead More →
For the second year in a row, the Higashimatsuyama Fireworks have been cancelled on account of the pandemic. There will be no firework displays in Higashimatsuyama city in 2021. Higashimatsuyama Fireworks 2020 The 2020 Higashimatsuyama fireworks have been cancelled due to the Coronavirus Outbreak. The 2020 Higashimatsuyama summer festival hasRead More →
The annual milk fair at Saitama Children’s Zoo will be held on Sunday June 2nd 2019 between 10 am and 4 pm. This event is a collaboration between the zoo and the Saitama Prefecture Milk Dissemination Association. There are a number of milk related events on the date such asRead More →
Aruzo Land – It was certainly a first for me to discover a free play center in a Real Estate Agency. Sure, lots of real estate agencies (plus car sales showrooms, dentists, phone shops…you name it), have play areas in Japan. But this is a full on PLAY CENTER, not justRead More →
Karaoke with kids – This post used to be about the Shidax Karaoke chain. However, in 2018 Shidax sold their karaoke business to rival B&V who operate the Karaoke Kan chain. The hand over was finalized in June 2020. The Shidax were a family friendly Karaoke chain that offer manyRead More →