places to see in saitama

hey everyone

i have been living in minami-urawa for like 7months and i have yet to go anywhere in saitama. any major things that should be seen and fun places is what im looking for.

thank you

http://www.sainokuni-kanko.jp/eng/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saitama_Prefecture

http://www.dokka-kanto.jp/area/04-saitama.shtml

In Saitama I've only visited Kawagoe, but I think it's a nice place to visit. there are some candy shops that sell traditional japanese candy :) and the part that's called Little Edo has some shrines and temples, and Toki no kane (the bell of time?)

One year on.....how did you do!?

I live in Kita Urawa, I think Omiya train museum, and Omiya Park is nice. Go to shin misato, there's a Costco !

Hi mikey7

As introduced above, Kawagoe is a must-visit place where you can feel Japan's old days and old life. kawagoe is called Ko-edo, which means a smaller version of Yedo (as you may know, Yedo is Tokyo's ancient name).

Take a look at these YouTube videos showing traditional Kawagoe shopping district:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsOQEes1Axo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUs_eh-H6fo

This shopping district is situated along a northward street in front of Hon-Kawagoe Station (Hon-Kawagoe is the final station of Seibu Shinjuku Line). You can enjoy there shopping until you drop.

In a northern part of Kawagoe (located east of the shopping district mentioned above), several traditional temples and shrines including Kita-in, Naka-in and Hikawa Shrine are distributed within a small area.

To access to major sightseeing spots in Kawagoe, get on a special bus for tourists (not a local bus) at the north exit of JR Kawagoe Station. There are two types of special tour buses. One is called Koedo Meisho Meguri Bus by Tobu Bus, while the other (retro-style microbus) is called Koedo Junkai Bus by Eagle Bus:

Koedo Meisho Meguri Bus
http://www.tobu-bus.com/pc/area/koedo.html
Koedo Junkai Bus
http://www.new-wing.co.jp/bus/route-temporary/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05pndsSvkxw

In 2007, Swedish King (King Carl XVI Gustav) and his royal family visited Kawagoe city by Seibu railway with Japan's Royal Family to see Japan's old life. Here are several images showing what happened then to Kawagoe:
http://jinsanz.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/09/19-e6ee.html

Saitama city has some nice attractions.
The Locomotive Museum is one of its most famous places and it is a fun place to go.

Also, the Bonsai Museum and the Bonsai Village are interesting. Saitama is the bonsai capital of the world. The museum is a good place to learn about bonsai and some of the techniques and thoughts behind it and then in the Bonsai Village are the bonsai nurseries which are where they not only raise bonsai but also train bonsai brought in by people who want theirs to look nicer.

Hikawa Shrine is large and popular. There is also the Prefectural History and Folk Museum.

Outside of Saitama city, there are still many places:
-Kawagoe: as mentioned above it has a nice historic district.

-Chichibu: For anyone interested in authentic pilgrimages, Chichibu may be the best way to do it, because all of the pilgrimage temples (34) are within the city so it's much more realistic and less time-consuming than others, like the Shikoku pilgrimage.

The Totoro Forest is also in Saitama.

If you can read some Japanese, the Mapple and Rurubu travel magazines are nice places to at least browse and find some places that look interesting to you. They also have websites.

Hiya again

As mentioned above, Chichibu is also an impressive place to visit.

One of the most attractive things you can see there is a steam locomotive (SL) sightseeing train running along Chichibu Railway on specified dates (mostly, every weekend). This SL train is called Paleo Express. Here is a YouTube video showing this SL train:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQZzo8Fw_JU

Also, Hitsuji-yama Park (meaning: Sheep Mountain Park) in Chichibu city is a must-visit place in lawn cherry blossom seasons (from late April through early May). You will see there very beautiful cherry gardens as well as many tourists watching them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzo5zVg5_vM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_DK10_j3v8

Of course, you can see there many sheep as the park name indicates:
http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/meri/bun/hana/hitsuji43.html

To move from your Minami Urawa to Chichibu,

get on a JR Musashino Line train for Fuchu-Honmachi at Minami Urawa Station,
get off the train at Shin-Akitsu Station,
walk for several minutes along a crowded street (don't worry. You will see many people walk along the same street to exchange trains like you. Just walk as they do).
then get on a Seibu Ikebukuro Line train for Hanno at Akitsu Station.
When you see your train stops at Hanno, transfer to a nearby train for Seibu Chichibu.

The Hitsuji-yama park mentioned above is located 1,000 meters east-southeast of Seibu Chichibu Station (the park is situated on a hillside looking down on the Seibu Chichibu station).

If you want to watch the SL train, move from the Seibu Chichibu station to Chichibu Station by taxi. There are two neighboring stations named Chichibu. One is Seibu Railway's Chichibu station (usually called Seibu Chichibu), while the other is Chichibu Railway's Chichibu station (simply called Chichibu). These are very confusing namings even for native Japanese people. Both Chichibu stations are located several hundred meters apart each other.

Tobu dobutsu koen, with zoo and theme park
http://www.tobuzoo.com/global/english/ that's good