The Candy Doctor Festival is a fun translation of Chichibu’s “Ameyakushi” festival. Ameyakushi can mean candy doctor. But its actually not that far fetched a translation, because the festival does have its roots both in candy and a doctor, kind of!… Ameyakushi “Candy Doctor” Festival The Ame is actually forRead More →
The Terasaka Rice Terraces “Firefly bonfire festival” has become quite famous, within Saitama anyway, in the last few years. Despite the remote location, hundreds make the journey to see the rare and stunning view of fireflies and candle light, or as they call them, bonfires. Information for this special eventRead More →
The Chichibu Kegon Falls is a popular spot with professional and amateur photographers, particularly in Autumn. This is because the waterfall is framed by maple leaves. Around mid November the leaves change to tones of orange and red. The waterfall is also a popular destination for “new green” in summer.Read More →
Tips for wild firefly viewing and a convenient location for an evening of fireflies in Saitama Prefecture. Wild Firefly Viewing There are two main ways to view fireflies in Japan. One, is to go to a firefly house, of which there are a dime a dozen in Japan. Some hotelsRead More →
Information for Firefly viewing and daylilies during rainy season, at Chichibu Muse Park, Ogano Town, Chichibu District, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Like many parks around Saitama Prefecture, you can see fireflies in Chichibu Muse Park in early summer. Moreover, they offer a supervised viewing event once a year. The date dependsRead More →
Rainy season in Japan has finally started as I update this post on June 7th 2026. It was announced earlier today. Each year I share at least 15 things to do in the rainy season in Japan, particularly in Saitama Prefecture, which is beside Tokyo! Typically the rainy season isRead More →
Nogoji is Saitama’s most famous hydrangea (ajisai in Japanese) temple. The temple grounds are actually quite small, but even without the hydrangea in bloom they are quite picturesque. But the temple grounds really come to life in June. The shrine was completely off limits each June between 2020 and 2022,Read More →
There is nothing quite like seeing fireflies in the wild, in their natural habitat. Chichibu is one of the few locations in Saitama that you can do just that: behold the stunning scene of fireflies in unadulterated surroundings. There are several different places you can see fireflies in the Chichibu areaRead More →
According to Kawagoe Hikawa shrine’s social media, the 2026 pinwheels went up on May 16th. This is much earlier than an average year. (Except for in 2022 when they went up in March for the 100 year anniversary of Kawagoe city!) The information for this annual June event has beenRead More →
This is the 2024 post. Please see the 2025 post here. Information for this annual June event has been on insaitama since the inauguration of the event. But it is updated annually and since last year (2023) I include hydrangea information. The ‘Hikawa’ hydrangea generally bloom roughly around the sameRead More →