Akita! 🐕

Holiday weekends are always a great excuse to travel. Especially when it is a holiday that is not celebrated in the country you are in. Labor Day weekend gave us a great excuse to head across the country to Akita and explore. However, the drive itself was anything but relaxing. 

Highways in Japan are different than one would encounter in the US. The only 'highways' are purposely constructed straight, flat roads that are more than likely a toll road. And there aren't that many. Most of the time, this isn't an issue, but for this particular trip, the drive itself was about the same time, but the tolls were around 50 dollars. So, we decided to embrace the adventure and drive right over the mountains. It was a choice. Good choice? Debatable, but a choice we made. 

The mountain roads were terrifying. Between the blind corners and tight roads, it was an anxiety-ridden drive. The drive home was even worse. Since we drove home from a different starting point from where we drove towards on Friday, the drive home was slightly different. We ended up going up this mountain where we had a whole stretch where every corner was a one-car-length wide road, except there were about 12 different curves tightly placed together. We were just crawling around the edge of the mountain. 

FRIDAY

Arriving in Akita on Friday, we were both exhausted from the drive. We had a late start getting on the road, so by the time we got there, we ended up getting some Udon for dinner and heading in for the night.  

SATURDAY

As Akita is both a city and a prefecture, we decided to travel around the city on our first day and visit a few other locations in the prefecture on the other days. In the morning, we ended up at the Kubota Castle Ruins. We walked around the historical location of Akita's government and saw shrines and statues. It was so beautiful. We also lucked out because it started to rain just as we finished, so we went back to the hotel for a little break before heading back out that afternoon. 

We went and saw the Museum of Art, a local Market, and the Folk Arts Center (which told us all about the various festivals that are held every year in the city. There is a festival where people balance these giant lanterns on their backs and shoulders. Even young kids do it. It was really interesting to see in the photos and videos. (We were unfortunately a few weeks late to see it in person). Of course, one thing that is absolutely necessary to do when you go to Akita is to see the Akita Inus. Unfortunately, they were closed when we were there, so I wasn't able to see any of the puppies. The Inu is very popular here in Japan, so I see them out for a walk a lot. 

SUNDAY

Sunday consisted of a lot of driving for us. The first stop was Lake Tazawa. This is the deepest lake in the country. There are a bunch of beautiful stops to make on the drive around the lake, including shrines, the statue of Tatsuko, and views of the lake. 

After this, we drove to the opposite side of the prefecture to the Oga Peninsula. The first stop was the Namahage Museum. It was a beautiful part of the history of the area that I had never heard of.  The Namahage were creatures who came down from the mountains to take lazy children and interrogate the families about what they did over the year, like their harvests and making sure no one was lazy. This is a tradition that some villages still do each year (without the kidnapping, of course). Next, we continued around the water to stop at the Oga Aquarium. I got to see this adorable polar bear get fish just chucked around his enclosure, and he was running around for it. The final stop before heading back to the city was this really cool rock formation that had naturally been produced to look like Godzilla. We got there right around sunset, so the head against the sky was beautiful. 

MONDAY

Before heading home on Monday, we visited a samurai village, where there are multiple preserved samurai houses. It was enjoyable walking around the historic area and learning all about the families that used to live in the area. 

Heading to the West- Tsugaru Peninsula ⛩ 🦊

 Last Saturday, I was fortunate enough to get to go to two locations in North Western Japan that were absolutely stunning. And strangely enough, for the first time since, I have been traveling, not absolutely swamped with people. I went on a bus trip through the base travel office. 

The first stop on our trip was the Takayama Inari Shrine, known for its 1000 shrines. It was absolutely beautiful. 'Inari' shrines are all over Japan, having the place where the fox spirits settle. The most famous is probably in Kyoto. The Fushimi Inari Shrine. It is the one known for having all the Torii gates going up the stairs. I visited it when I was in Kyoto back in 2020. But I think this one was actually a lot nicer. While there were some stairs initially, getting up to the beautiful shrine, I didn't have to climb a mountain this time. And it was much less crowded. 

The shrine itself was really pretty, and going up a path just past it, there were several much smaller shrines and a memorial to an American Merchant Ship that sunk just off the coast of the peninsula in 1889, in a corner where you could see the water. 

The Torii gates were down the other side, past the shrine. Said to be 1000 (not actually) Torii gates; they were lining a path just past a pond. I think what really makes this place unique is that when you get to the end of the path and look over the line of the gates, it resembles a Chinese dragon, with its head at the far end, facing away. 

There were also dozens of fox statues lining one edge of the area and more scattered around the shrine. It was really interesting. They were all dressed up. I assume due to the recent holiday, this was a way of honoring the spirits that rested there. 

That wasn't all we were going to be able to see, though. After the shrine, we stopped at a local mall to get lunch and then headed off to the Tsuru-no-Mai Bridge. On our way through the area, we drove through an area that translated to Rice Rice Road. It was completely covered on both sides by rice fields, the local crop. With the cranes flying past, it was something out of a movie. But now to the bridge. 

While not as impressive as the shrine, it was still a piece of Japanese history. Tsuru-no-Mai Bridge passes over the Tsugaru Fujimi Lake with a reflection of Mt. Iwaki. With the bridge's total length being 300 meters, it is Japan’s longest triple-arch wooden bridge. The bridge view looks as if a crane is flying in the background of Mt Iwaki. Also, it is said that visitors who walk across the bridge will have a long life. Mt. Iwaki is known colloquially as Mt. Fuji of the North due to its shape. While we couldn't see the whole mountain due to cloud cover that day, we could still see portions of it. 

After we crossed, we stopped at the shop on the other side and got soft serve ice cream. Grape flavor for me and Apple flavor for Charles. While it sounds strange, it was actually really good. Apples are what Aomari province is known for, so be prepared for some apple content coming your way in the next few months as they are getting harvested. The trip was a good one, and I was glad to have gotten to go when I did. The Shrine is going to be going under a rolling renovation for the next three years, so the view I got today wouldn't be visible for the rest of the time I will be in Japan. 

Aomori Nebuta Festival

The end of July-early August is the season of festivals, it seems. One of the annual festivals for early August, and actually one of the most famous festivals of northern Japan, is the Aomori Nebuta Festival in Aomori and is part of the three festivals of Tohoku that are in the first week of August. It is an upbeat festival that has homemade and handpainted floats that proceed in a parade with music and dancing. Although the origins of the festival are unclear, it is thought to be a post-battle celebration. 

The day before my birthday, Charles and I were fortunate enough to get to go on a trip to Aomari and watch the parade. We got to the city a few hours early for the parade, so we had the opportunity to walk around the area in which the floats were stored and people were getting ready. Here we got to look at the floats up close, and it was incredible. Both the size and the level of detail is insane. The floats were hand painted. You could see the brush strokes on the paper. We walked around the main area of the city and bought some souvenirs (I got socks that had fish on them!). 

On our way to find food, we ended up at Utou Junja Shrine. It was a small little area, but it felt like we were being transported out of the city in the middle of downtown. It is actually amazing how the Japanese people do that. These little natural sanctuaries are in the middle of a busy city. We ended up sitting down next to a little pond that had a bunch of turtles in it! There was even one really curious turtle who kept coming up to us, perching itself on the ledge and staring at us. It even got out of the water at one point but couldn't get up over a curb, or it may have walked right up to me. It was so cute! 

For dinner, we got ourselves some Yakisoba, sitting by the water to eat it. At this point, it was time to head toward our seats for the parade. Along the way, we stopped at this cute little table that was selling snow cones with homemade apple syrup (Aomori is known for its apples). I walked up, and it was almost a little scary. Everyone was yelling their handful of English words that they knew. This family was actually really sweet. In our conversations, I mentioned that my birthday was the next day, and they ended up singing me Happy Birthday! It was so much fun! If I get to go back, I will go to their shop. It wasn't far off the main street. The snow cone, by the way, was actually super delicious. It even had chunks of apples in it. It's probably the best snowcone I've ever had. 

The parade itself was an experience. All of the music (flutes and drums) were done live by people walking down the street, and the floats were pushed by a bunch of guys. Which is not something we typically see in the US. The floats in US parades are usually motorized, but with the people punching them, they were able to move around the street and interact with the audience. There were several times when it would stop and turn and almost charge at the audience. You could see the effort don't their faces trying to stop the momentum of the gigantic floats. 

Between the musicians and the floats were large groups of dancers. Something interesting about this parade is that anyone can join the parade as a dancer. They just have to have the outfit, and every department store in the city sells them. They had bells attached to their outfits and jumped around. It is actually said that if you catch a bell that fell off of the dancer, it was good luck. Many of them just tossed bells toward the audience. I ended up going home with five bells and two fans that were being handed out by people in the parade. 

But that's not all!

We went and saw the parade on Friday, but the festival actually ended on Monday. So I went back to see the finale. The finale consisted of the four winning floats from the festival being loaded onto boats and paraded around the harbor and fireworks. I took the train up and arrived right as the parade was starting. I ended up getting a spot on the beach to watch. The downside was that my whole view was being framed by two bridges. I guess that is what I get for not getting there earlier. I could just see the floats through the bridge at the bottom, and some of the fireworks were cut off by a bridge above me. Something I found interesting was that the fireworks weren't just after the boats went by but actually, as they started their way around the parade route. So it was boat + fireworks four times. This was actually one of the most interesting fireworks displays I've ever seen. The fireworks themselves were so good, with a really good mix of different types. There were even some that were in shapes, like elephants and cat faces and hearts. The only strange part was that the fireworks lasted for an hour and a half, but it wasn't steady. There were 3-10 minutes between spurts of fireworks.  The later the fireworks went, the shorter the gaps between were, but it's still interesting that there were some. If I didn't know what time the fireworks were supposed to be, I probably would have left early because I thought it was over. Still super glad I went and will hopefully go again. 

Weekend in Sendai ( ☀ it's so hot! 🔥)

Charles and I are attempting to make the most of our weekends. After all, three years may seem like a long time, but it can go by in a flash if you aren't making the most of it. For the last weekend in July, we made a plan to head off to Sendai literally the Monday before. I have the feeling this is going to happen a bunch. We are not great at planning ahead of time. This means we ended up traveling to Sendai on a weekend when the temperature was incredibly high, and the sun was out and ready to make you hate life. 

Sendai is the closest large city to us. It's about halfway between Hachinohe and Tokyo (which also means it was only an hour and a half on the Shinkansen). We got to Sendai around lunchtime. We ate on the train, so when we got there, we chucked our bag in a locker at the train station and started to explore. Sendai Station is massive and has a whole mall attached to it. Beyond that, there is a whole shopping area just outside of the station as well. The station and the mall were decorated for the Tanabata festival already, even though the following weekend was when the festival would be celebrated. It was kind of cool, as I knew that I wouldn't be able to come down and see anything the next weekend. 

The adjoining mall called SPal was multiple floors, and the floor plan was so strange. Every time we turned a corner, there was more mall. We wandered around the mall for a bit and then headed over to our hotel to cool off and relax until dinner. For dinner, we wanted to get a staple of the region called Gyutan. Beef Tounge. We didn't end up at a restaurant for it but found a Yakiniku restaurant instead. Still so delicious. Afterward, we found ourselves at a Zunda store (edamame), which I know sounds gross but was surprisingly not terrible. I liked it in desserts and shakes that were a bit sweeter. When heading out to explore more of the city, we found yet another Pokemon Center, so of course, we had to go in and look around. It actually had some stuff that Tokyo didn't have. I don't know if this was because of a new release or store-specific merchandise. Afterward, we did end up at a stationary store, so we could both be nerdy. 

Eventually, we walked around for a bit and ended up at a three story arcade (games, claw machines, Gachapon Capsule machines). We played games and looked around. Across the street, there was a five-story Don Quixote, which, if you don't know, is kinda a catch-all store. It had food, drinks, toys, and more expensive things like watches, makeup, and colored contacts?. It was nuts. They also had hilarious music playing over the store speakers. 

On day two, we decided to get a Loople Pass. This is the sightseeing hop-on hop-off bus in Sendai. Waiting in line for the bus, we were already sweating. It wasn't even 10 am. The kind older gentleman who was working at the main bus stop talked to us for a little bit about where we were planning on going and warned us about a few stops that were more intense exercise-wise, with little shade. He told us to drink a lot of water. We actually took off one of the stops off our list because we knew it would be too much for today with the weather and the number of stairs. After all, our traveling is supposed to be fun. 

Our first stop was the Zuihoden Mausoleum. This is where five of Sendai's feudal lords, including their most famous and most powerful, the first lord, Date Masamune. It was really beautiful. The hike up the stairs was not great, but there was a little rest station at the top that was air-conditioned. I was grateful for it. The mausoleums themselves were quite beautiful. They were colored in gold and red and blue, and other colors with depictions of various symbols on them. None of the buildings that were there were the original buildings; however, since Sendai was actually bombed in WWII and most of the city was destroyed and rebuilt. On the way down the hill, we stopped by a temple and a children's graveyard (children of the lords who died in childhood). 

The second stop was Sendai Castle. There wasn't actually still a castle built, but the foundation was laid out with stones, and there was a beautiful view of the city next to a statue of Date Masamune riding a horse. We also got some lunch here and got a rice bowl with gyutan. It was so delicious. 

After skipping a few things for next time, we visited the Sankyzawa 100-year Electrical Historical Center, which features a Hydroelectric Power Staton from the Meiji Era that is still in use today. This wasn't too interesting, but since Charles is an electrical engineer, he found this place very interesting. 

At our last stop, we got off at Jozenji-Dori Ave, which is a street lined with trees (Sendai is the city of trees), where they host many festivals. We walked from here through the Ichibancho district (a large shopping district) and made our way back to the station. We hung out there until it was time to go. Very long day with a bunch of steps. I was really grateful I got to go, and I can't wait to head back. Hopefully, it will be cooler next time.