Making the best of the truckloads of snow that cover Hirosaki each winter, the Hirosaki Castle Snow Lantern Festival surrounds the quaint little castle with approximately 200 snow lanterns along with numerous kamakura (small igloos) and snow sculptures.
During the day there are concerts and performances. There’s even a giant snow slide for the kids.
Like the head office in Osaka, the Hiroshima branch of the Japan Mint has a garden of late blossoming yaezakura cherry trees. The garden boasts 63 multi petaled varieties of sakura and 219 trees. Regular old somei yoshino cherry blossoms […]
Each year for one week in mid April, the Osaka Mint Bureau opens their grounds for ‘Sakura Torinuke” – cherry blossom viewing. The particular variety for which the mint grounds are famous for is yaezakura – a slightly later flowering […]
The Takayama Spring Festival/Sanno Matsuri takes place at Hie Shrine in Takayama City, Gifu – not to be confused with the festival and shrine of the same name in Tokyo. The festival features processions of large wheeled floats, mikoshi (shoulder […]
Celebrating the accession ceremony day of the temple’s deity – Emperor Kanmu in 781 in Nara, this annual festival features an opportunity to see Geiko (the geisha of Kyoto) and Maiko, their apprentices. The prayer ceremony takes place on the […]
