Tentative information for the 2022 Otourou Festival in Iruma. The event was cancelled in 2021 on account of the Coronavirus. Otourou festival Otourou is one of those words that is hard to translate into English. The word is actually “tourou” and the “o” in front is honorific. The Otourou festivalRead More →
There was no Iruma Dezome Shiki in 2021 on account of the Coronavirus. Assuming it can go ahead in 2022 it will likely be on the second Sunday of January. A dezome shiki is a New Year event of the fire brigades in Japan. It involves a blessing / ceremonyRead 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 thousands of spectators. However, in 2020 the event was cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. It is too soonRead 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). The popularity of the festival is growing year on year and is expected to attract inRead More →
For the second year in a row, the Iruma Nouryou Firework Festival has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Iruma Nouryou Firework Festival Nouryou is one of those Japanese words that is difficult to translate. It literally means coolness, but when it is used with “sai ” it meansRead More →
Model Railway Town play area ALIT This year for the spring holidays, ALIT the Archives, Literature, Information and Tea Museum, will have a large model railway town play area. Their (ALIT) facebook page points out that the event opens on the same day as the Moomin Valley Park grand opening,Read More →
ALIT stands for Art / Archives, Library, Information and Tea. It is essentially a tea museum. And one of only a handful of tea museums in Japan, or even the world. The tea exhibits and related maybe the main part of the museum, but there is a lot more toRead More →
Chukaman Museum ~ free nikuman factory tour in Iruma The “Only in Saitama” series continues with Saitama’s latest free factory tour. The Chukaman Museum is a Nikuman (pork buns) Factory tour in Iruma. It is the first, and currently only, museum of its type in the whole of Japan. TheRead More →
Santa Seibu – Santa Claus will be in Seibu Pepe in Iruma on Sunday December 9th at 5 different times. Santa will be walking around the shopping center. If you find him you can approach him to get your photo taken with him. He will also be giving a smallRead More →