June 23, 2023

Here is our view when we sailed into port at around 9 AM.  We were met by local people who gave us these origami figures with sayings inside.  Mine said “excellent luck”.  And indeed, we are lucky to be in this beautiful port. 

It is a bit rainy for sail in but cleared up soon after. The temperature is 68 as we arrive.  Beautifully cool. We were greeted by dancers and flag wavers who were accompanied by drums and other music. We watched them from our balcony before we left the ship.

Today we had a tour to Neputa Village and Hirosaki Castle.  Our guide was Tomohiko and he asked us to call him “Tom”.  Here he is showing us his uniform. He told us he was born in 1955 and is retired from hi s job but is now trained as a tour guide. He told us that 90% of the people who live in this city are native to here.  Trading, banking and agriculture are the main occupations. We are on the northernmost island in Japan now and it is cold in the winter, they get 1 – 2 meters of snow each year.  The water and the rice are excellent so there are many sake breweries.  During the cherry blossom season they get 3 – 4 million visitors for the one week festival. They are also the biggest producer of Fuji apples in Japan.  More than half of the 760,000 ton crop is raised here.There are 50 apple pie restaurants and you see apple everything!

Aomori means blue forest although it could possibly be translated as “green forest”. The area is lush with greenery and many forests.

Our first stop was the Tsugaru Neputa Village where we saw a local show.  The ticket itself is a work of art!

The local artists performed on the large drums and on the string instrument that we have seen in other ports, the shamisen. Neputa means “sleepy” and there is a huge festival, the Aomori Neputa Matsuri which takes place in early August.  It is a fire festival and attracts more than 3 million visitors. We saw many of the 80 different fan shaped floats and images of warriors that parade through the town during the festival. The parade is accompanied by flute and taiko (Japanese drum) players. Neputa is said to have originated from the event Nemuri Nagashi, a traditional event to banish the invisible sleep demon who makes people drowsy during the summer when farm work is at its busiest.  The use of lantern and light is a hallmark of this festival. Three large drums called Odaikos are the highlight of this festival and the sound is so profound that viewers feel the vibration to their core.  We certainly jumped when the first one was struck.  Then some of the audience members, including one of our passengers, were invited to participate.

These are the Chinese year symbols.  Norm is the Ox and I am the tiger.

These are all made of a strong paper.  The small picture is a model of one of the floats.

Wearing a mask!

I have mentioned the many vending machines here.  You can get cold coffee and hot coffee from the same vending machine.  Norm got to be fond of the coffees and had many of them while we have been in Japan. I loved the ice cream and had apple soft serve here.  It was delicious. We bought some cookies made in an iron mold and one of the apple cakes. 

The grounds around the village were beautiful and we had time to savor the sights.

This craftsman was making beautiful chopsticks.

We got back on the bus for a trip….across the road!  We were wondering why we didn’t just walk, but Tom said  he wanted to take care of those who had trouble with walking. A very Japanese response.

The Hirosaki Park is a large beautiful park and the setting of the Hirosaki castle. The park is 121.5 acres in size and contains 2600 cherry trees. The Cherry Blossom festival here is said to be the best in Japan.

The castle was originally built in 1611.  It was opened to the public in 1895 and designated as a Historical Site in 1952.

There is a lot of construction going on and the castle is actually on a temporary site. It is a 5 story castle (the Japanese castles are pagodas of uneven numbers).  The original castle was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1627. The present castle was completed in 1822.  We enjoyed the grounds and could go into the castle and up to the second level.

There are actually tree doctors that take care of all of the trees but especially the cherry trees.  This old tree was knocked over in a storm and is now staked up.

Tom also pointed out this area where the trees form a heart.  He took our pictures there.

While in the garden, Tom pointed out a tree that is in a twisted shape – he had a prize for whoever could guess what it represents.  Norm guessed it!  A crane.

The next wall of rocks was next and I guessed a turtle.

Here were our prizes.  Tom seemed surprised that I guessed the turtle.

On the way back to the pier, Tom asked if he could sing “bus karaoke” and he entertained us with Japanese songs and in English – White Christmas!

These local young men were waving us goodbye when we returned.