blog for people from abroad about Fukui Prefecture in Japan.
October/24/2021
You can see colorful life-sized chrysanthemum dolls and numerous kinds of chrysanthemums for free at the Takefu Kiku Ningyo Festival. (Kiku means “chrysanthemum” and ningyo means “doll.”) Kiku Ningyo festival is one of Japan’s cultural traditions.
The Takefu Kiku Ningyo Festival has a 70-year history and is one of the three best Kiku Ningyo Festivals in Japan. It’s held every year from early October through early November at Takefu Chuo Park(武生中央公園), Fukui.
November/9/2019
Tsuruga, which is in the middle of Fukui Prefecture, is often called a railroad and port city.
In 1902 the direct route between Tsuruga and Vladivostok was opened, and in 1912 the railroad between Tsuruga and Tokyo was built. From 1912 to 1941 this route (which went from Tokyo to Tsuruga to Vladivostok to European countries like France, Poland, and Lithuania, and which made use of both Tsuruga Port and the Trans-Siberian Railroad) was the shortest one between Japan and Europe.
November/10/2019
Tsuruga is a city that Polish orphans came to in the 1920s and Jewish refugees in the 1940s. (If you want to know more about these things, read my previous post.(Tsuruga Port,Fumi Matsuzawa: a heroine, and Chiune Sugihara: a hero.)) Because of this, Tsuruga has friendly relationships with Poland, Lithuania, Israel and the Netherlands.
July/31/2019
Today, I watched some sumo matches in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture. Between the main sumo tournaments, sumo wrestlers go to rural towns and hold exhibition matches for a day at a time. It was the first time I’d ever watched sumo live.
Sumo is well known around the world, so you may know something about it. However, the history of sumo and the meanings of the sumo wrestlers’ motions aren’t as well known.
May/3,5/2019
Nishiyama Park is a historic park, which is designated as one of Japan’s top 100 historical parks. I wrote about the history of this park in a previous post(2018 Autumn Leaves Festival at Nishiyama Park in Fukui Prefecture), so please read it.
Nishiyama Park is a good place to visit all year round. In April, you can see cherry blossoms, in May, you can see azaleas, and in November, you’ll see autumn leaves. Also, you can see a snowy landscape in January and February.
November/24/2018
Today I went to Nishiyama Park, which is in Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. The Autumn Leaves Festival was being held there. There are about 1,600 Japanese maple trees in the park. Usually, you can enjoy seeing autumn leaves the best at Nishiyama Park from mid-November to late November.
October/3/2018
Today I went to Mikuni, Fukui Prefecture, to watch the final soccer game of the National Sports Festival, which is the biggest annual sports event in Japan. This year’s festival was held in Fukui Prefecture for the first time in 50 years.
In the male soccer section, the Fukui team got through to the final. Fukui would face Tokyo.