Soka – あ、草加? Visiting Soka in Saitama
Some places I only visit because I find their name particularly interesting. “Reading” near London is an example, “Naganuma Park” another. Sometimes I just take a map, zoom in and then look up the cities to find out if there’s anything worth visiting. Soka is such a place.
So why Soka? Soka (草加) is a city in Saitama prefecture and I picked it because it sounds similar to そうか (“right/really.”). Besides it’s near Kasukabe where one of the last fireworks near Tokyo was held. So I did both towns on one day. My Japanese sister would call both of them “random places”. “What are you doing in Soka?”
![PICT0291.JPG](https://jaapan.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Soka-Saitama-1-1024x681.jpg)
The city’s website actually contains descriptions of some sight seeing spots (a walking tour). There is a long park located next to a river/channel.
![PICT0295.JPG](https://jaapan.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Soka-Saitama-2-1024x681.jpg)
And a very long bridge!
Would I go to Soka if I haven’t been to most famous spots in the Kanto region? Probably not, but I think you should always visit some places which aren’t on everyone’s list. There are many people here in Japan with a love for obscure places – most of the sites which introduce these places are in Japanese of course.
![](https://jaapan.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Soka-Saitama-3-681x1024.jpg)