Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Ogawa Machi: Our Japanese Hometown

A hand drawn/painted map of our town-Ogawa Machi.

Nearly three years have passed since my husband, Karl, and I moved to Japan.  At this time three years ago, we knew that we would be moving to Japan, but we were still anxiously awaiting to hear about where we would be living within Japan. 

Only six short weeks before we were scheduled to leave, we finally found out where we would be living during our time in Japan:  Ogawa Machi, Saitama.  Karl would be working in a tiny neighboring village: Higashichichibu Mura. 

As soon as we had this information, we consulted with the all-knowing Google to try and find out a thing or two about our new place of residence.  Unfortunately, we found very little information. 

Because of this experience, I have decided to take it upon myself to document all of our favorite places in Ogawa Machi on this blog.  Though not nearly as exciting as Tokyo (which is a mere hour away by the Tobu Tojo train line) Ogawa is a fantastic place to live. 

Ogawa is, by Japanese standards, a small town.  The population is probably somewhere around 35,000.  It is nestled in a little valley right at the edge of the Chichibu mountain range.  Like most places in Japan, it too boasts a long history. 

Right after the massive 9.0 earth quake that shook Japan on March 11th, 2011, we were reassured many times by the residents of Ogawa that we were living in a safe place.  Ogawa was built directly over an enormous bedrock, so even though we can feel lots of shaking during earth quakes, the buildings are quite sound. 

The weather in Ogawa is, for most of the year, fantastic.  Saitama is rated at the sunniest prefecture in all of Japan.  Since the ground doesn’t freeze, the growing season lasts all year long.  The occasional slushy snow falls in the winter and the summer is horribly humid.  But the spring and the autumn are perfection.  Unless you have allergies, that is.

Over the next few weeks, I will devote posts to several places in Ogawa that we wished we had known about when we first arrived.  For anyone else moving here in the future, I hope that you will find this useful. 

Pin It!

5 comments:

  1. Hi, excellent blog. It helps me a lot now I`m living in Ogawamachi. I`m from Peru. I`ve been living here for 2 months. I`d like to be in touch with you to exchange mails and information. Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you happen to have a membership at Kawara Sports? There is a good chance that I have seen you there. I am usually there working out in the afternoons during the week. Can we meet there sometime?

      Delete


    2. Hello Everybody,
      My name is Ahmad Asnul Brunei, I contacted Mr Osman Loan Firm for a business loan amount of $250,000, Then i was told about the step of approving my requested loan amount, after taking the risk again because i was so much desperate of setting up a business to my greatest surprise, the loan amount was credited to my bank account within 24 banking hours without any stress of getting my loan. I was surprise because i was first fall a victim of scam! If you are interested of securing any loan amount & you are located in any country, I'll advise you can contact Mr Osman Loan Firm via email osmanloanserves@gmail.com

      LOAN APPLICATION INFORMATION FORM
      First name......
      Middle name.....
      2) Gender:.........
      3) Loan Amount Needed:.........
      4) Loan Duration:.........
      5) Country:.........
      6) Home Address:.........
      7) Mobile Number:.........
      8) Email address..........
      9) Monthly Income:.....................
      10) Occupation:...........................
      11)Which site did you here about us.....................
      Thanks and Best Regards.
      Derek Email osmanloanserves@gmail.com

      Delete
  2. The map is really well done for a hand drawn map. It is very detailed. I think it is a wonderful thing to help others learn more about your little town. Thank you for all of the useful information.


    Please visit My Webblog

    ReplyDelete
  3. nice! thank you so much! Thank you for sharing. Your blog posts are more interesting and impressive. I think there are many people like and visit it regularly, including me.

    ReplyDelete