Mitsuba Azalea Garden, the “Purple Mountain” of Saitama Prefecture – We’ve been uncovering several of Saitama secret gems these past few weeks. Today’s adventure brought us on to the Purple Mountain “Murasaki Yama” in Ogose Town. Three thousand Mitsuba Azalea – Rhododendron dilatatum – over three hectares of a privatelyRead More →
Garden Cafe Greenrose ~ View the stunning roses and seasonal blooms (over a cup of tea and cake during the open garden period normally, but not during the pandemic)… Garden Cafe Greenrose is a private garden that opens to the public for the rose season twice a year. Roses bloomRead More →
Kamitome Festival: Experience life like a local at this annual local traditional festival in Miyoshi Town in Saitama Prefecture. Read More →
Azalea Ogose – beautiful azalea sightseeing spot in Ogose town, Saitama. Information for the 2023 Azalea festival is included in this post -updated on April 14th 2023 with the new start date for the festival and new feature photo (at the top of the post). It is a little sadRead More →
Ogose Plum Grove / Bairin is one of three big plum blossom forests in the Kanto area. Bairin 梅林 is the Japanese for a plum grove, or quite literally a plum forest. The whole of Ogose is a virtual plum blossom forest, you can see stretches of beautifully gnarled treeRead More →
This is the third part of a four part series about the rather unusual and entertaining Santome Village (Santome Community) in Miyoshi Town, Saitama. It is also referred to as Konjaku Mura. In this segment, I introduce the Kunugi no Mori Environmental School and what Ishizaka has called an “AmusementRead More →
Santome Konjaku Mura / Village (Santome Konjyamura Kouryu Plaza) for something completely different in Saitama. Part I of a 4 part series about this unique outdoor theme / eco park. We had so many adventures in 2017 and enjoyed each in different ways. However, in terms of new locations forRead More →