06.Aug
8:30 lets start the day
Blisters are going better now and the breakfast was very welcomed. I woke up just in time and thought the meager breakfast buffet of 2 toasts and a little bit of marmelade was everything which was left for the last guest. To my surprise i actually was served a full plate of different breakfast ready snacks such as fish, fruits and potato salad, however only after i toasted my 2 toasts and about to devour them.
10:00 Taking the bus from Noshiro to Tsurugata. Seems like only every some hours a train goes from Tsurugata to Odate, they don’t even have a ticket machine. When I arrive in Odate I had to declare from where I started to pay my respective fare. At 11:30 am i headed from Odate to Hirosaki Station.
Fun Fact: The famous dog Hachiko actually has his origins here in Odate and there is also a statue in honor of his loyality. Unfortunately i only had a short transfer time to actually have a look at it.
In retrospective i wonder how i actually managed to get through Akita without a car since it is quite inconvinient and if you miss a connection you would have to wait for hours. Passing through all this smaller cities made me actually realize the aging gap especially apparent in the countryside.
13:00 Arriving at Hirosaki and heading straight to the Hirosaki castle with just a small detour to send some post cards.
Sitting in the Hirosaki garden feels like nothing is around you except for the thousands of insects and ducks making their noises. It’s easy to indulge yourself and forget the time. To be honest the Hirosaki castle itself is not as impressive as i expected. Dating back to 1810 the castle supposedly is the oldest still standing original castle in Japan which was not destroyed by catastrophies, Meiji Era or World War II and rebuilt again. It was actually built under the pretext of being a turret tower because the Meiji government wouldn’t have allowed any castle in Japan. In 2014 it was deemed to be necessary to repair the wall on which the castle stood or else it would crumble. There were probably some options but the engineers decided to move the whole (!) castle from the wall around 20m towards the center.
The city Hirosaki looks a bit weird. It is kind of old but also has some high buildings disturbing the landscape and a lot of unused land.
16:20 Aomori reminds me of Dresden and Hamburg. It is big enough to have some more modernish and new things but not too big that it might be too crowded and anonymous. I really like sunsets and watery places which Aomori perfectly delivered.
17:30 I already see the first lanterns making their way downtown to the parade location which are streets spanning around several blocks. However the festival does not start yet and i take my time to enjoy a good dinner at the ASPAM building at the 13th. floor. Although the streets are filled with shops selling you the typical street food the ASPAM offers you a beautiful view over the city and the upcoming parade as well as regular menu prices.
The Nebuta festival parade is running around several blocks. The parade is divided in several smaller groups. Each group has leading drummers followed by a pack of people who dance and make noise. Behind them a big cart having the lantern is being pulled / pushed by around 10 people.
There are a lot of stories how the Nebuta festival originated. According to one legend, once a general used big lanterns and made people dance and produce noise to distract the enemy. In the early days, the Nebutas have been made by people of different towns however nowadays they are mostly made by bigger businesses and organizations (wiki, en-aomori.com, Accessed: 22.10.2019). They mostly depict historic sceneries or myths. One of them goes like this:
“In Edo period (1603-1868), Warrior Takeda (left) worked hard to develop flood control in Iwaki River, Hirosaki. The castle town and rice fields were flushed with hard rain and melted snow as two rivers used to flow together.[…] When Warrior Takeda was taking command to control the overflowed and muddy river, suddenly Dragon appeared and made the muddy stream clean and flood stopped. The scene depicts Warrior Takeda and Dragon challenging to control the furious river.” (information board, Aomori Nebuta Museum, 08.08.2019)
24:00 After once again a train ride i finally arrived in the Grandhill hotel in Misawa. I am sitting in their bathtub trying to cure my body. Although i am super tired i need to eat the cup noodles to get my calories straight.
07.Aug
09:05: Catching the train from Misawa to Hachinohe and from there on to Yakeyama to start my hike along the Oirase George. Breakfast was corn and tuna from yesterday, but i got a good portion of lunch at Yakeyama.
If you want to start the hike from here you will have to follow the street and passing a hotel on your right side until you reach a trail section which has signs leading the way to Ishigedo – the first resting palce. The hike along the Oirase George to the Lake Towada was very enjoyable and very well maintained but a little overkill. I did it in 4h with breaks but I think one should really just take a part of it, preferable getting there by car and just enjoy the bits which showcases the waterfalls.
17:00 The lake is beautiful and the water invites to just jump in… so I actually did. I just realized though that my blister flattened down meaning it probably opened up and I just hope I didn’t get an infection. On the other hand though, through my bathing I made some friends with English teachers who were originally from Trinidad.
OK now to the hostel… it is probably the most weirdest one in the world
The owner is not here and won’t answer calls. From the looks of it it seemed to be an old mansion before and now is used as hostel. A lot of beds are empty, some doors have some extra gutter and in general it looks really creepy. But the bed is clean we get a lot for free like using bikes, and it’s all trust based meaning food is provided and if we take some we just pay as described – we are only bound by our moral. I think there are around 7 more people here.
I made friends with a very scary looking Taiwanese guy. He offered me some yakitori and I wanted to get him a beer but because I lacked coin and my honest ass didn’t want to pay too less I had to go to the next vending machine to get change. Now that I arrived home again the Taiwanese guy said he has beer already and I shouldn’t worry. Anyway we sat and drank and talked a lot. Since he couldn’t speak English we really did manage to communicate both in broken Japanese bits which was honestly the best conversation i had so far in Japanese – no pressure about grammar or vocabulary just trying to convey your message.
08.Aug
07:00 wake up, instant noodles and flakes and 2 toasts with strawberry jam as breakfast. I don’t really have much time but i also want to make use of this “free breakfast” offer. And off I go catching the bus to Aomori at 8:20.
11:10 im in Aomori and my next bus to sendai leaves at 14:40 – sowhat to do? I decided to give the Wa Rasse Museum a visit. This museum does not offer much more background information of the origin of the nebuta festivals however you can get a good look inside such a lantern with all its complex wiring and light bulb system.
I spend a little more time at the seaside and enjoying the most northern part of the mainland until i had to catch my bus to Sendai at 14:00.