🌸 Plum and Cherry Blossom Viewing Information at Arayama (Kouzen) Park 🌸 Arayama Park, spanning approximately 170,000 square meters, offers prime plum and cherry blossom viewing from February through April.✨ This year the plum blossoms appear to be blooming slightly later than usual, but the flowering status is being updated on Sakai City’s official website, so please check before you visit.👀 🌺 Plums (about 50 varieties, approximately 1,100 red and white plum trees) 🌸 Cherry blossoms 🚗 From February 7 to April 6, all parking lots in the park will be paid. We ask that visitors use public transportation when coming to the park. 📞 Inquiry: Izumigaoka Park Office 072-291-1800

Kintsugi Workshop 🖌️ Bring your favorite cracked or chipped dish back to life with an easy kintsugi method using putty and brass powder! 👀 📢“Himo Tokeba Sakai: Exploring the Mysteries of Sakai 2025” 🎉 🗓️ Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 📍Sakai Risho no Mori; held only on Saturday, March 22. Reservations open from Saturday, March 1! 🔍For details, please check the announcements on the Sakai Tourism Guide website 📬Apply: Sakai Risho no Mori reservation site 📞Inquiries: 072-260-4386

🍵 Matcha experience with a golden tea bowl (seated tea ceremony)🍡 Enjoy matcha served in a golden tea bowl while seated, along with Sakai wagashi (fresh Japanese confections)✨ 📢 “Untie the Knot, Sakai: Delving into Sakai’s Mysteries 2025”🎉 🗓️ Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 📍 Sakai Rishō no Mori — reservations open from Saturday, March 1! 🔍 For details, please check the announcements on the Sakai Tourism Guide website 📬 Apply: via the Sakai Rishō no Mori reservation site 📞 Inquiries: 072-260-4386

🧵Unraveling the Mystery of the Tea Room – Hideyoshi’s Golden Tea Room and Rikyu’s Taian Sen no Rikyu, born in Sakai, perfected the tea ceremony culture 🍵 This event focuses on the tea room and features a special lecture by a curator along with an exhibition-guided tour visiting two tea rooms ✨ 📢“Untie the Cord: Exploring Sakai’s Mysteries 2025” 🎉 🗓️ Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 📍Sakai Risho no Mori; reservations open from Saturday, March 1! 🔍For details, please check the announcement on the Sakai Tourism Guide website 📬Apply via the Sakai Risho no Mori reservation site 📞Inquiries: 072-260-4386

🔫 Special guided tour exploring the mystery of Sakai gunsmith Inoue Sekiemon! In the Edo period, Sakai was a major center for firearm production✨ This tour delves into the mystery of Sakai gunsmith Inoue Sekiemon, who inherited that history🕵️ 📢 “Untie the Threads, Uncover Sakai: Exploring Sakai’s Mysteries 2025”🎉 📅 Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 📍Teppo-kaji residence, about 8 participants per session, advance reservations accepted! 🔍 For details, please check the notices on the Sakai Tourism Guide website. 📬Application: Phone/Fax: 072-228-1501 Email: info@sakai-machiyamuseums.com

🚶‍♂️Four sightseeing tour courses! 🚲 🍵A route tracing Sen no Rikyū’s footsteps, an exploration of the moat-city’s history, a historic sites tour of the old port, and a special cycling course! 🚴 Experience Sakai’s profound history with a guided tour. ✨ 📢“Unraveling Sakai: Probing the Mysteries of Sakai 2025”🎉 📅 Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 🔍For details and applications, please check the announcements on the Sakai Tourism Guide website📬 This tour is perfect for history enthusiasts and anyone who wants to learn more about Sakai! We look forward to your participation✨

Unravel Sakai 2025 — Investigating the Mysteries of Sakai An interactive event that unravels Sakai. This edition is themed "Investigating the Mysteries of Sakai" 🔍 Featuring a tour-style real mystery-solving game called "Nazotokeba Sakai", plus special guided tours and hands-on experiences you can only find here—packed with excitement! ✨ Why not join the "Expedition Team" to probe the various mysteries hidden across Sakai? 🕵️ Dates: Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 *The real mystery-solving game runs from Saturday, March 22 through Monday, October 13.* Location: Kanjō (moat) area, Sakai-ku, Sakai City For details, please check the announcements on the Sakai Tourism Guide website.

📣 March 5 only! Enjoy sumo and Shinto at Ohtori Grand Shrine 🏯💪 A rare experience plan lets you watch Arashio-beya’s morning sumo practice at Ohtori Grand Shrine and attend a special talk by a Shinto priest titled “Shinto and Sumo.” ✨ 👀 This is your chance to see rikishi train up close with the same intensity as in competition! The talk on the deep ties between Shinto and sumo will make watching matches even more enjoyable. 🎤 🗓️ Date: Wednesday, March 5 💰 Fee: 5,500 yen (about 3.5 hours) 📬 Registration deadline: One week before the event date ✨ Participants will also receive commemorative gifts from Ohtori Grand Shrine and Arashio-beya! 🔍 For details and to apply, check the “Experience Tours & Plans” section via the URL in our profile.

🔍Let's uncover some of Sakai’s little-known past! 👀 ✨Special exhibition "Encyclopedia of Life in Sakai" now on display📣 The tools we use every day and the scenes around us have changed in many ways over time📚This exhibition focuses on four themes—Sakai Prefecture as it existed in the early Meiji period, Sakai’s connections with international exhibitions, the tools once used in Sakai, and Sakai’s landscapes—using old photographs, sketches, and actual tools that were used here♪ Please come with your family and friends! 🔍For more details, search for "Encyclopedia of Life in Sakai"!

Maido! This is the Sakai Tourism and Convention Bureau Public Interest Incorporated Association! On Cool Japan Video, we will be sharing information about Sakai City in Osaka Prefecture, so we hope you will enjoy it! Sakai City sits in the south-central part of Osaka Prefecture, facing Osaka Bay, and is a compelling city where history, culture, and modern life coexist. With a population of about 810,000, it is the second largest city in Osaka Prefecture after Osaka City. Step away from the bustle of the streets, and you will find historic burial mounds and venerable shrines—an altogether different, rich charm lives here. Sakai’s history is ancient: people settled here more than 10,000 years ago in the Paleolithic era, and many stone tools and pottery pieces have been unearthed from Sakai’s archaeological sites. From the late 4th century onward, burial mounds were built one after another, eventually forming a group of over 100 tumuli. These mounds still remain throughout the city, allowing you to feel history up close. During the Sengoku period, Sakai prospered as an international trading port. Now, let us introduce some of Sakai City’s most attractive sightseeing spots. First is the Mozu Tombs and Furuichi Burial Mounds. Consisting of the Mozu area in Sakai City and the Furuichi area in Habikino City and Fujiidera City, the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. At the center of the Mozu area stands the Tomb of Emperor Nintoku, Japan’s largest keyhole-shaped kofun at 840 meters long. It is said to be one of the world’s three great tombs alongside the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in China. Currently, 44 kofun remain within Sakai City. Come and feel the breath of antiquity. At Mozu Hachimangu Shrine, an ancient and atmospheric shrine, you are greeted by a camphor tree more than 800 years old that is designated a Natural Monument of Osaka Prefecture. The shrine grounds are filled with seasonal trees that paint different scenes throughout the year. Other popular temples and shrines in Sakai City include Tajihayahime Shrine, Ohtori Grand Shrine, Hochigai Shrine, and Kaikou Shrine. For families with children, Sakai Municipal Children's Museum, known as Big Bang, offers an indoor play space that is perfect even on rainy days. Inside the UFO-shaped facility, kids can run and climb on a giant jungle gym reaching 53 meters high. Children can learn about science and physics while playing on the equipment. At Sakai Traditional Crafts Museum (formerly Sakai Traditional Industry Hall), which brings together Sakai’s traditional industries, you can learn about the city’s proud history of blades and their manufacturing processes. Exhibition rooms showcase incense, tatami mats, wagashi sweets, and Sakai May carp streamers, and demonstrations of blade sharpening and hands-on workshops are also held, making it a popular tourist spot. Sakai hosts many popular festivals and events such as the Sakai Festival, Sakai Futon Daiko, and Sakai Danjiri. The Sakai Festival, held annually on the third Saturday and Sunday of October, is the city’s largest celebration. The main street, Oshoji-suji, becomes a pedestrian zone for a grand event featuring folk dances, Nanban costumes, and gun squads, with some 7,000 participants—an unmissable spectacle. Sakai Futon Daiko is famous as Sakai’s autumn festival, with mikoshi portable shrines adorned with five layers of decorated futons parading through the city. Alongside the futon drums, Sakai Danjiri is another autumn tradition. More than 80 danjiri floats remain in Sakai City today, offering a sense of history and tradition. Sakai City in Osaka Prefecture holds a wealth of attractions where tradition, culture, and history blend together. We will continue to share more information so that everyone can learn more about Sakai City, and we appreciate your support!

A store ❤ that never stops being as exciting as an adult toy box