Torii Kannon is one of the most famous fall foliage spots in Saitama Prefecture. Moreover, it is also one of the official top 100 tourist attractions of Saitama Prefecture. The leaves at the kannon usually start to change around mid October, but lucky for us, they are late this year.Read More →
Autumn leaves 紅葉 (koyo/ kōyō) Festival at the Ranzan valley / Gorge in 2023. Ranzan Valley¹ is a beautiful nature spot with several hiking routes in the Hiki area of Saitama Prefecture. It is particularly popular in Autumn when the leaves are in various shades of red, yellow and green.Read More →
Information for the seasonal flowers at the Nagatoro Flower Village “Nagatoro Hana no Sato”, which is best known for its Golden Poppies, but currently there are beautiful hydrangea in bloom and the cosmos have started to bloom also. I debated whether to wait until next year to share this one,Read More →
General information about wintersweet aka Japanese allspice aka Robai, as well as the latest information for the Wintersweet and Wintersweet festival at Hodosan Robaien (Nagatoro) in January 2024. In this post: Wintersweet Wintersweet, also known as Japanese Allspice, or by its scientific name Chimonanthus praecox, is a winter blooming deciduousRead More →
There is a small but pretty kaede (maple) garden in the Takanokura Fureai Nature Park. The Takanokura Fureai nature park is located in Hatoyama Town in the Hiki District of Saitama, where nature is abundant. They have recently made improvements to the park, but to be quite frank I don’tRead More →
The John Deere Park is a work in progress, but it has huge potential. It is a “Satoyama” flower park in rural Hatoyama. A place unscathed by telephone or electrical wires, which is rare even in the Hiki District which is largely countryside. Initially, the ‘real’ name of the parkRead More →
A completely off the beaten path spot for hydrangea – Katsuragi Kannon. I’ve mentioned Katsuragi Kannon on a couple of posts on the blog in the past. But I’ve been waiting to have the right photos (which I often do) before giving it its own post! Finally, today, I gotRead More →
Hydrangea and night light up in the Minano area of Chichibu. The viewing deck at Minoyama park in Chichibu offers a night view that is so spectacular it has made it on to the official top 100 night view locations of Japan. In addition, the cherry blossoms in Minoyama Park,Read More →
A giant cedar with seasonal flowers and a Catbus Bus Stop in the Hiki District of Saitama Prefecture. Thanks to volunteer work I do with a team of fellow “Hikijin” and Hiki District lovers, I heard about this completely off the beaten path nature spot in the mountains of TokigawaRead More →
Once upon a time, Lake Kamakita drew thousands of visitors each year for its autumn colors. It was one of Saitama’s most famous autumn leaves spot. However, over the years the area became very dilapidated. It still is. Most of the buildings around the lake have fallen to ruin, includingRead More →