4/22/2008

Saga (佐賀市, Saga-shi?) is the capital of Saga Prefecture, located on the island of Kyūshū, Japan.

Every fall Saga holds the “Saga International Balloon Fiesta” in the dry riverbed of the Kase River. A quarter of the visitors are from Saga. The number of all visitors was about 15 million in 2005. Balloonists from many countries enter this event.

On October 1, 2005, the city merged with the towns of Morodomi, Yamato and Fuji (all from Saga District) and the village of Mitsuse from Kanzaki District to form the new city of Saga. With this creation, the city became neighbors with the city of Fukuoka in Fukuoka Prefecture. On October 1, 2007 the towns of Higashiyoka, Kawasoe, and Kubota were incorporated into Saga, further expanding its borders. Although it is the capital of Saga Prefecture, it can be said to be within the Fukuoka metropolitan

Some interesting points to note while visiting the city would be the Saga Castle. A rare ancient architecture where the castle was built on plains instead of a hilltop and is surrounded by walls instead.

Also, the Saga International Balloon festival is an internationally garnered event where balloonist from all over the world gathered to showcase various caricatures and creative hot air floaters to grace the sky. It is one of the most interesting events in the world. It is usually held between Oct 30 to Nov 5 every year.

Saga City’s website (Japanese)