Sightseeing Spots

Here you can learn about Ina town's rich natural and cultural properties. There is a comprehensive exhibition of local treasures displaying nature, geography, history, and folklore. The location moved to Ina Municipal Minami Junior High School in April 2016. Feel free to stop by and deepen your love and understanding of the wonderful Ina town.

This is a museum with the main theme being tea. Ample resources for learning are available on a range of topics starting from the Sayama tea, tea’s history and culture, Iruma City’s nature and history. Within the large garden, there is a tearoom, copse, restaurant, and a square with lawns. It is an ideal place to get some rest.

This Tourist Information Center is located on the second floor of the Station Building adjacent to Higashimatsuyama Station. Here you can find pamphlets on sightseeing spots and events in the city, walking maps, and more. City mascot character goods and other specialties of the city are also available for purchase. A pamphlet rack is also located in front of the ticket gates of Higashi Matsuyama Station, allowing you to easily grab what you need on your way to the train.

A park surrounded by water and greenery. The park is free of charge to enter. All year round, the park is crowded with families using the park as a place of rest within the region.

Harvesting can be experienced throughout the year with tomato and strawberry picking in the spring, eggplant and blueberry picking in the summer, chestnut picking and sweet potato digging in the autumn, and finally harvesting broccoli, onions, and radishes in the winter. Also, barbecue, camping (mess kit for rice making), and classes of Kazo City’s famous handmade udon are available. From late March to the end of November, there will be a stage show of popular characters among children such as Pretty Cure, Kamen Rider, Anpanman. On a day with clear weather, it will take place on the stage outside while on a rainy day, it will take place at the family building hall.

This park is a natural trail in the Tokyo metropolitan area. On the north side, you have Shimokubo Dam (Kanna Lake), and from spring to autumn, many flowers bloom, bringing joy to visiting tourists. In addition, about 600 winter cherry trees are planted in the park, which is a rare cherry blossom that blooms from late October to early December, creating a very special atmosphere. There are also campsites, restaurants, souvenir shops, BBQ-areas, observation decks, and more. A perfect place to enjoy a great day with the family!

Muzeum pamięci Ogino Ginkgo is a Japanese-style building divided into an exhibition room and a lounge area. The building has a tiled roof and plastered walls partly covered in wooden siding, which resembles the Nagaya-mon gate of Ginko Ogino's birthplace. Ginko Ogino is one of the three great historical figures of Saitama Prefecture. She passed the medical practice examination in 1885 and became the first officially licensed female doctor in Japan.

Roadside Station Showa is surrounded by a rural landscape of fertile farmland, small forest grooves, and pastoral rice fields. This blessed natural environment allows you to feel the changing of the seasons. In the product hall, you can find a variety of souvenirs from all over the country as well as products unique to the Kasukabe area. This is a very popular spot for tourists where you even can buy fresh local vegetables. Or why not sit down and enjoy a hot meal at the restaurant "Shokusai-kan?"

As you go through the mountain road, you will see a direct sales store built from Japanese cypress. It specializes in the treasures of the mountain, harvested in the Ōno region, such as the mountain mushrooms and wild plants. The “Chirimen Norabō-na” only available here has a deep sweet taste, making it a popular product every year. The building is the oldest out of the 4 direct sales stores within the town and is said to be the model of the “Myōkaku Station” which has the same octagonal shape.

There are a lot of things to see, including exhibits that tell the history of Konosu station town. There are also hina dolls and akamono plants, a warehouse built in the Meiji period (designated as an important building of Saitama Prefecture's landscape), and a stage decorated with mosaic art. The museum also provides information on sightseeing and sells local specialties. Make sure to stop by and have an enjoyable time!

At the building of Haniwa located inside the Saitama Kofun Group, anyone can experience making their own Haniwa with the help of an instructor. In order to create a Haniwa, there are 3 steps: 90 minutes of molding, drying for about a month, heating in the kiln located inside the building at a heat of 800℃ for approximately 7 hours. Once the Haniwa is complete, it can either be retrieved in person or can be delivered and paid on arrival.

The Kinchakuda park was formed by the zigzagging flow of the Koma River that runs through Hidaka City. Because its shape resembles a money pouch, it has come to be called Kinchakuda (= money pouch). Kichakuda park is a flatland surrounded by a river with a diameter of about 500 meters and a size of about 22 hectares. Flowers such as rape blossoms and cosmos bloom every season, but the highlight is the 5 million red spider lilies that dye the park in crimson colors every autumn.

Here you can see the only castanet-playing haniwa (clay figurine) and dancing female haniwa (clay figurine) found in Japan! In addition to the many earthenware and stone tools on display, the life of Kiku Nishizaki, the first female seaplane pilot in Japan, who is a great historical figure of Kamisato and the main character in an NHK TV series, is also introduced.

It is a place located very close to the Ōshi Castle and is noted for its water hyacinth. The Aoi-no-ike (lake) within the park displays beautiful water hyacinth at a certain season. The square is also known for its 200 trees of sakura (cherry blossom). In addition, “Inaka Kyōshi-no Bungakuhi" (Literary Monument of a Country Teacher) of Katai Tayama was built here. In the monument, a verse from the book Inaka Kyōshi, “The road to Yori was long…”, is engraved.

Mizukokaizuka Park is a park with a site area of roughly 40,000 square meters. It is maintained to preserve a midden (shell mound) which is designated as both, a historically significant place and a midden that represents the first half of the Jomon period (approximately 5500 to 6500 years ago). The site area illustrates the size of the village and the 5 pit-houses have been restored. With a path (spanning 582 meters) going around it, the forest from the Jomon era is restored on the outside. At the exhibition hall on Mizukokaizuka, dwelling sites from the time of excavation are replicated and reproduced in order to articulate the midden of the time along with how individuals lived at the time. In addition, there is an archive adjoining the park where archaeological and historical resources unearthed from the city’s ruins are exhibited, with stone tools from the Paleolithic era roughly 30,000 years ago, Jomon pottery (also known as “Musasabi-gata-doki” ) unearthed from the ruins of Hazawa that is designated as a cultural property by the prefecture, along with an iron sword and a glass bead from the beginning of the Kofun period, with numerous data utilized to explain the primitive and ancient times of Fujimi City.

The Yoshimi Hundred Caves is a horizontal hole tomb built at the end of the Kofun period (late 6th to late 7th century) and was designated as a national historic site in 1918. It is a historic site that represents Yoshimi Town, and there are currently 219 horizontal holes that have been confirmed. Each hole consists of two parts, a narrow passage, and a burial chamber. In some of the holes, you can also find the natural monument luminous moss growing.

Doukan Omotenashi (hospitality) Plaza provides information on tourist attractions, historical sites, hiking trails, flowering information, and special products in Ogose Town. Make sure to stop by when you visit Ogose Town!

“The small-leaved maple” is said to be a 600 year-old tree that shows various expressions through the 4 seasons and is an elegant big tree designated as Saitama Prefecture’s natural treasure. The circumference of the trunk is 3.8 meters, with a height of 7.2 meters, 18.9 meters to the north and south, 20.6 meters to the east and west, with a trunk girth of 56.3 meters. The yellowing of leaves start from the middle of November to the end. In addition, an event called the “Night Zazenkai” takes place on the 8th of each month from 19:30. Nearby, there is a “Teuchi (Handmade) Soba Machida” and the scenery of each of the four seasons can be enjoyed while eating the handmade soba.

This is a newly improved park in Hatoyama-machi where two large Japanese fir trees, designated by the town as scenic trees, stand close together. Also, there is the Midoyama near the entrance, adjoining Takanokura Hachijyūhachikasho and Hachimanjinjya-no-Ichinogashi (a designated natural monument of the town), allowing for an enjoyable “four seasons” of Hatoyama.

We offer information regarding the city such as information related to tourism and the town. Everything from displays of the original picture of “Crayon Shin-chan”, an animated character that represents Kasukabe, to the sales of food approved for the city’s “Food Selection” takes place. Further, it is registered as a “baby friendly station” with changes of diapers and breast-feeding made possible. Please feel free to stop by.

The Arakawa Line downstream boating in Chichibu Nagatoro lets you ride upon the beautifully layered stone riverbed, which is designated as a natural monument. It is a relaxing course with a couple of thrills along the way, but perfectly safe for children or seniors to enjoy as well. While listening to the boatman's entertaining guiding, you can enjoy the cherry blossoms in the spring, the cool breeze in the summer, the beautiful colors of autumn, and the warmth of the kotatsu (heated table) boat in the winter. In other words, a perfect outdoor activity regardless of the season!

In 1970, the Gogaku Kenshujo (lit. village school training institution) Foundation was established on the site of the former Japan Farmers' School founded by Dr. Masahiro Yasuoka in the early Showa period. In 2012, the official name of the foundation was changed to "Gogaku Kenshujo / Yasuoka Masahiro Memorial Museum," and it has been working to promote Gogaku (the study of the countryside) and to pass on to future generations the teachings and anthropology of Dr. Yasuoka Masahiro, which are needed in this day and age, while continuing the tradition of the Japan Agricultural School.

The two authentic Dashis (festival cars) pulled at the Kawagoe Festival are on display along with materials related to the Kawagoe Festival. At this exhibition hall, the powerful atmosphere of the Kawagoe Festival can be experienced all year round. There is also a regular demonstration of musical accompaniment (about 20 minutes).

An old resting house for travelers, built from local cedar and cypress trees, was remodeled and opened on May 16th in 2018 as a public rest area. Local products, such as the Sōka Senbei (rice cracker), are sold, and you can find plenty of useful information, making it a great starting place for any traveler in the area.