Ko (Kou / Kō) Shrine, 鴻神社, is the principal shrine of Konosu City. The Kanji is 鴻, “otori”, which is from konotori, which means oriental stork. The shrine is home to the konotori legend from which Konosu city gets its name. Konosu is also written with the same kanji 鴻Read More →
Several locations went ahead with their winter illumination in 2021-2022, but Ageo was not one of them! Perhaps in recompense for that, Ageo City were one of the first, this year, to confirm their winter illumination for the winter of 2022-2023! They actually announced it on the Ageo City wayRead 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 →
To share or not to share, that is always the question when you find an off the beaten path gingko tree spot in your neighborhood! Same thing happened with Shoboji’s legendary gingko tree, which eventually became a hot spot. The location was suited to it though and the temple welcomesRead More →
The Konosu Otori Festival is a three day event for locals, but on one day they have a parade that they welcome the general public to. It is called the Kounotori Densetsu (Legendary Oriental Storks) Parade. They named Konosu after storks. Even the principal shrine in the city is calledRead More →
A highlight of October in Saitama Prefecture are the famous Konosu fireworks display. Early in 2020, the organizers of the Konosu Fireworks announced that they were postponing the infamous Konosu Fireworks. However, there were no further updates until June 23rd 2021. At that time, they said that the fireworks wereRead More →
The Ina Summer Festival and fireworks is actually (currently) scheduled to go ahead in 2022 despite the pandemic. There have been many more summer festivals this year than the last two years combined, but most of them have been in cities rather than towns. It is lovely to see aRead More →
The “Benibana” Safflower Festival of Okegawa is coming back in 2022. Okegawa didn’t even grow the safflower in 2020, but in 2021 they did and even penciled in a date for the festival. But ultimately it was cancelled due to the pandemic. This year, 2022, they have even made theRead More →
Bara no Komichi is an atelier and garden cafe in Ageo City in central Saitama. Bara is the Japanese for rose and Komichi means pathway or small passage. As you might guess from the name, the showpiece of the garden is its roses. But the garden and cafe are openRead More →
Information for the Poppies and Nadeshiko flowers in May and the Cosmos in October at Konosu’s Cosmos Arena Fuikage. Update October 28th: you can now pick the cosmos for free. Cosmos Arena Fukiage On the flood lands of the Arakawa river, millions of flowers grow annually in front of theRead More →