Yairo Children's Snow Festival - Mar 10

Spring is just around the corner and it is a great time to visit the mountains, especially if you have kids. Whether they ski or not, there is always plenty to do to keep them occupied. The warmer weather in March makes it a great time to come and have some fun in the snow, and that is the driving force behind the 7th Yairo Forest Park Children's Snow Festival on Sunday March 10th.

Yairo has one of the best parks in the area for most of the year but most people don't head there in the winter. All that will change for the Snow Festival. There are loads of fun, free activities to play around with. Banana boating on the snow, igloos, snowshoeing, tubing, bamboo skis, mini games, snow sculptures and plenty more. It is always loads of fun, and the little ones will love it. There will be plenty of food as well to keep them full of energy.

Another JR poster...

Another poster from the good folks at JR. This time it is pushing Niigata prefecture as a destination and both the images they have chosen come from within Snow Country.

Head to Yairo just north of Urasa and you will find yourself driving through field after field of watermelons ripening in the warm summer sun. Shops and supermarkets are full of these famous watermelon at the moment and chilled watermelon is a summer staple in Japan. Yairo watermelon are famous throughout Japan.

Over the hill in Tsunan they have a summer sunflower park with acres of giant sunflowers as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately it has finished for the 2012 season (it closed August 21 this year) but it is a stunning sight and well worth heading over to see.

Yairo Matsuri - October 9th

Yairo is famous for its watermelons but it also produces plenty of other foods that are equally tasty and on October 9th they have a festival celebrating the autumn harvest.

The festival itself is held at Yairo No Mori Park, which is worth a visit at any time (and is just around the corner from the Echigo Winery and the amazing Yummy Ice Cream Shop.) This park is a fantastic place for children with lots of climbing apparatus, giant bouncy balls and loads of space for the kids to charge about. The adults can supervise from the relative peace of the public BBQ areas.

The Festival is free to attend and like many autumn festivals, the food is the star with local specialities and freshly harvested produce in abundance. There are also games for the children, entertainment on the large stage, dancing and other activities for the whole family such as hot-air ballooning. These festivals are a great way to get close to small town Japan, make new friends and interact with the local population.

Yairo Watermelon

Snow Country produces many great seasonal products and one of the most refreshing tastes of summer are the watermelons from Yairo. Snowcountry is well know for its top quality rice but the watermelon are also up there. This small town in the north of Snow Country has watermelon fields all over and you can see the fruit by the side of the road ripening.

Ice cold watermelon on a hot day is an absolute treat and a real taste of summer.