The Chichibu area is known for its Dahlia. The Dahlia Garden at Mt Ryokami Fumoto Hana no Sato is one of the largest and most popular places to see Dahlia in Saitama. Mt Ryokami Dahlia Garden The Dahlia Garden at Mt Ryokami opens annually in Autumn. It generally opens fromRead More →
A round up of events in Saitama in summer 2021. Includes information on those events and fireworks that have been cancelled in 2021 and those that are going ahead. Update July 28th 14:08 JST. This information is all very tentative at the moment. Saitama Prefecture is poised to request aRead More →
Washi no Sato is a roadside station in Saitama’s last and only village, Higashichichibu. Moreover, it is one of the most famous places for traditional washi paper making, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. You can try your hand at the 1300 year old tradition at this quaint rest area inRead More →
The Lupine flowers have started to bloom around Saitama Prefecture. You can see small displays of them in private gardens and occasionally public places such as parks or shrines. However, there is one location in Saitama where you can see a large display of Lupine (Lupines / Lupinus); Musashi KyuryoRead More →
Fukaya Green Park Fukaya Green park is a small park beside the indoor pool and leisure center Aqua Paradise Patio. The park isn’t particularly big, but it has some beautiful cherry blossoms. Interestingly ANA describes it as a “vast park”, it makes me wonder did we accidentally miss a wholeRead More →
In a regular year, the 1300 year old Koma Shrine has two different cherry blossom festivals. One is a celebration of the 300 year old Higanzakura on the grounds. The other a more typical “sakura matsuri”. But this is not a typical year. In 2021, it seems that Koma shrineRead More →
Seasonal flowers at the Shimoyatsubayashi flower field where flower picking is allowed and free Flower picking Unlike in my home country, you can’t pick flowers in Japan unless you have permission to do so. Not even flowers growing on the side of the road. Like Singapore, Japan also frowns onRead More →
Saitama Sakura Watch 2021 Hi! Apologies in advance that is quite basic, but I want to make the information available asap. I am getting a LOT of direct messages with queries about Saitama Cherry Blossoms. Thank you so so much, it means a lot to me. However and very unfortunately,Read More →
On the Kitamoto stretch of the former Kamakura Kaido, there are several shrines and temples. Each of them has something very interesting about them. And most of them are quite photogenic. Perhaps the best known of them is the Takao Hikawa Shrine. It is famed for having Japan’s largest “omikuji”.Read More →
Al fresco dining in Saitama Prefecture, at Adomani Cafe in Konosu With the Coronavirus still in our midst, I’ve never been so interested in “al fresco dining”. Amazingly, it is not as popular in Japan as you would expect. Therefore, it is quite hard to find a good restaurant withRead More →