Coedo Beer Festival 2019

Every year, local brewery Coedo throws a little shindig to celebrate the joys of craft brewing. They invite tons of local vendors, do some interesting collaborative brews, and offer all sorts of entertainment for the fine people of Kawagoe.

Kanamara Matsuri

Alright, so, here we go. This is the festival with the giant phallus parading through town. There are a lot of expectations going into an event like this, and a lot of things you are suspecting to see. I’m here to report that some of those expectations were met thoroughly, while others fell woefully short […]

Otaru Snow Light Path Festival 2018

About an hour north of Saporro is Otaru, which has its own winter-inspired festival during the Sapporo Snow Festival. Known for its restored canal along the sea, Otaru decorates the canal and a special street in the city with lanterns made of snow and ice. With a good pair of snow boots and a warm […]

Sapporo Snow Festival 2018: Susukino

In my last snow festival post, I focused on the insane amount of snow and ice present along Odori Park in the heart of Sapporo. Just a few blocks away there was a display of ice sculptures in Susukino. Since there was so much going on, I decided to separate the two out and dedicate […]

Sapporo Snow Festival 2018: Odori Park

Every year, the city of Sapporo hosts a large snow festival across the main streets in its city. You can see monumental snow sculptures and ice sculptures across two key areas in the city: Odori Park and Susukino respectively. I was lucky enough to visit both on a recent trip to Hokkaido and here is […]

Daruma Festival

Kita-in Temple hosts many events through the year, but the one that caught my eye the most was the Daruma Festival, held on January 3rd of each year. I could already see hints of the impending Daruma flood on the evening of December 31st as temple-goers flooded the main building to offer prayers. Touted as […]

Tokyo Christmas Market

I had asked the student what they were up to during the weekend and she replied that she was going to a German Christmas market deep in the heart of Tokyo. Intrigued, I asked her about the details and she showed me the website, replete with images of quaint cottages, cooked sausages, and a variety […]

Kawagoe Coffee Festival 2017

I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but I am a sucker for festivals. As soon as I saw the hand-drawn posters for the Kawagoe Coffee Festival, I knew I would want to check it out, even though I’m not much of a coffee fan. I do enjoy the smell of roasting coffee, so with […]

Kawagoe Festival 2017

One of the three major festivals in Saitama prefecture, the Kawagoe festival is an autumn festival that occurs every year on the third Saturday/Sunday of October. The whole town gets in on the action, with gifts, snacks, drinks, and floats flooding the city streets. Despite threats of bad weather, I was able to see a […]

Spider Lilies in Kinchakuda

One thing I’m learning here in Japan is that everything is ruled by the seasons. Japanese people love the fact that the change of seasons is so notable here, and many tourist activities are very time-bound in accordance with the seasons. Right now, it’s peak time for spider lilies to be in bloom. One of […]