Japan 2011-Nebuta

From the first time I saw pictures of a Nebuta being led through the city of Aomori, I thought that it would be a cool site to see. However, it would be difficul as I do not travel during the summer months because of the heat and humidity of many areas. This trip afforeded me the opportunity to at least take a look at some of these brightly colored floats.

As I gazed up these action-packed creations, I tried to take pictures from many different angles and viewpoints. The story continues to unfold as you walk to the backside and discover there is more to see.

After a while, all the faces start to look the same. They all seem pretty pissed of and ready to take someone's head off. Not a smiling face to be had amongst the whole bunch.But their gleaming blue blades and white hot sharp edged weapons never fail to impress.

All the floats were depicting conflicts of one sort or another: man vs man, man vs tiger, man vs dragon, etc. All warriors usually fighting with hand held weapons but this one might be cheating and using a bit of magic or the force to overcome his rival

I didnt really take the time to read about the history of the festival or the origins of the floats. I was just impatient to see the floats. However, along one of the halls, there was an interactive display that lets you create your own nebuta facel You could customize the eyes, facepaint, and scowl. The face was projected onto a form to make look 3D. Before I got to the floats, I heard a bit of drumming ahead. As I reached the grand hall, there was some demonstration going on. I was too caught up in taking pictures to heed what was going on. Before I knew it, the drums went silent and so did the hall.

After seeing these in person, I am more inspired to one day hit Aomori in the summer to catch this weeklong festival. I am now a little more familiar with the area. The parade route is not too far from the Toyoko Inn but I dount you could get any views of it from any of the rooms.

Japan 2011-Stars and Hearts

So, there is a mode on my camera that lets you replace the dots of light in your picture with a number of different shapes like hearts and stars. I played around with this mode and found out a few things about it. For one, it was meant for portrait pictures where you would have someone in the foreground. The background bets very blurred but the shapes do come out very nicely. For the nighttime pic of Hakodate, you cant make out the city at all. You can make out most of the stars that are superimposed on the light sources. They even reflect the color of the light.

At the Otaru canal, I chose the heart shape because this was supposed to be a very romantic spot to take a picture from. I had no one to take a picture with so I just took the picture. Its not a total loss, I could always photoshop a seperate pic of myself with a girlfriend later on.

Japan 2011-Otaru redux

Along the side of the canal, snow sculptures were built for the sole purpose of being illuminated during the festival. The glow would help to accentuate the globes of glass that would be set afloat in the canal. These globes were once used in the fishing industry and how it came to be part of Otaru's claim to fame. The small snowmen strewn around the cabin are scarifices for a mild and gentle winter.(j/k)

We were not the only ones who were here early. Other tourists had come to see Otaru, the canal and the shops. It was a beautiful clear day for the siteseeing and walking about. There is a tram that takes you up a hill to get a bird's eye view of the city. Ffor us, there was not enought time to manage that detour. We were early because we would be leaving on a morning train to Hakodate the next day.

This is one of the many glass blowing shops in town. This one happens to be open to the street so people could walk up and the process as it happens. We could see the blowers already working on something. They would pull it out of the furnace and work on it until it cooled down to much to be shaped. Then it was back into the furnace to reheat and repeat the process until the desired shape was achieved.

This is the far end of the merchant street that we were walking down for most of the day. the weather was getting cooler as the sun set. It was fully set by the time we reached the far end. There had been stops along the way to take pictures, eat snacks, and buy souvenirs. Dinner would not happen in Otaru. It would be back in Sapporo as we rejoined the remaining travelmates back at the hotel.

Japan 2011-Koedo

My friend and I went to an area of Kawagoe known for isolating the look and feel of an earlier time. Koedo is within easy access by bus or foot from Kawagoe station on the Saikyu line. The feel of ancient Edo was totally lost to me when I saw all the auto traffic along the main drag in Koedo. I was expecting the streets to be closed to car traffic so that pedestrians can freely walk about. I got this disillusion from the pictures on the area's official website. Anyway, many of the structures have the look of black wooden storefronts. Being that this has become a tourist orient area, there are many items you can purchase. We saw a number of senbei, rice cracker, shops.

In Kashiya Yokocho, cheap and affordable sweets and candies delighted the school children. Some of the candies are like the old style brightly colored candies seen below. Part of the charm of this area is that things like these candies are supposed to be made in the traditional ways back when Tokyo was known as Edo

Children were scooping them up by the bag full. Many mixing different colors and different types all into one bag to enjoy throughtout the day or for the the bus ride home.

Many places will put out their welcome mats as they open their stores. Here, this storeowner, puts out his welcome dog. A friendly pooch who has not been jaded from years of being adored. He/she almost seems to be bowing to me as I pass by.

Another popular item being snatched up by children and adults alike are the soy sauce bread. If you look, you can see one in the middle of the photo near the bottom. I cannot attest to its flavor but certains things in Japan are bought solely as gifts for others and rarely eaten by oneself. Case in point, those high priced melons. The bread went for about 300 yen. Some kids who purchased them were barely tall enough to see one end of the loaf if standing vertically

After all the walking, it was time to walk back to the station to catch the train back to Tokyo. It had felt like a long day and the train ride provided little stimulus to stay awake. My eyelids won many battles over my consciousness to find me drifting off every now and again. Before I know it, we were at Ueno station and it would only be a little longer before we would change trains at Osaki to get back to Shinagawa. I did not fall asleep back in the room. I wasted the time watching TV and checking up on things on the net before going out again

Japan 2011-Hakodate redux

Our hotel in Hakodate is the local chain of the Toyoko Inn. There are 2 locations in this city. the one I chose is the one thats south of the JR station just passed the morning market. Here, its visible as I strolled through the market on the morning of our depature. the other location is closer to their downtown area to the northeast from this position.

As you stroll from the train station to the hotel, you run across a number of shops opposite from the morning market. One in particualr is this whale meat restaurant. I have not tried whale, dont really plan to either. The japanese have a weird relationship with whaling. They use a loop hole in the law that allows them to hunt whales for research. But Im sure that the captured whales will eventually end up as someone's meal

On a tastier note, I had mentioned about a little yakitori place that we ran across. We ordered a variety of skewers and other dishes. The ones I enjoyed the most were the ones made with duck meat. One was plain minced duck and the other included green onions. Both were awesome and delicious. The meat had a nice texture and did not dry out during the cooking process.

Apparently in this area, pig is more popular than cow. Many of the items that we ordered were from swine such as the pig tongue below. I have had beef tongue and I like it. In comparison, the flavor from this is much more mild and the texture is a bit crunchier. Not as crunchy as chicken cartiledge.

Several things on my list of things to see while we are here includes seeing the star shaped fort called Fort Goryokaku. Since we were doing this the morning we were leaving, there was no time to actually walk the fort ourselves. So, we went to the adjacent tower to take pictures. In a small area, a number of children and people were giggling about and pointing to the floor. the tower is 107 meters tall and theres a glassed in whole that allows you to look straight to the base of the structure. The people were scared to stand on top or even near the glass. Being hte impetuous american, I went over to stand atop the glass and even stomp on it a few times.

Hakodate is located in the southwest tip of the island. Its an oddly shaped penninsula. If you were to cut it off from the rest of Hokkaido, it would look like a 3-pointed shuriken, throwing star.

This is the western side of the city. Much of the tourist attractions are located on this side. Fort Goryokaku, Mt Hakodate, our hotel, brick warehouses, etc. If you look at the boat in the harbor and move your eyes up to almost where the horizon is, you will see the observation tower for the fort just to the right. Right below the observation desk of Mt Hakodate, at the base of the tram, there are a number of historic old temples from religions outside of Japan. These were built by some of the early foreign settlers

Japan 2011-Aomori redux

My first impressions of Aomori were not great. Part of that is due to being somewhat disoriented and not exactly sure of where I was going. The first half of the group left Hakodate as scheduled but we disbanded once we dropped off our luggage at the hotel. I proceeded to what I thought was north but turned out to be east or something. I was looking for a particular building called ASPAM, more on that later. I came across a covered street with shops. The overhangs help to keep the snow off the walkways which make them less slippery and safer. I noticed that there were alot of bridal shops in the area. Is Aomori a place that people get wedded at? As I kept walking, I would look up and down branching streets for ASASPAM

I finally espied my destination and followed my nose straight to the pyramid looking building. ASPAM is a place where you can read up on information about Aomori and the area. they also have a gift shop that proudly displays the products this region is known for, especailly apples. I was totally unimpressed with the building and what it had to offer me. the gift shop was fairly extensive but there was nothing special that I could not find in any other gift shop around town

Nearby there is a suspension bridge that is lit up with color changing lights at night. The towers are lit but the cables themselves are left untreated. the desing of the bridge is very similar to the new Bay Bridge being built that links Oakland to Trasure Island. It also calls for a single towers which will suspend the roadway on either side of it.

Soon, hunger was getting the better of me and I went in search of fooooooood. Lacking in japanese, there were very few places that I could recognize that would accommodate me. I walked up and down the streets and noticed the streets were lined with these metal figures. I dont know what they are but I do recognize them. Several years ago, Capcom came out with a Street Fighter game called Darkstalkers, starring monsters and creatures. There were vampires, wereworlve, halfhuman-halfcat creatures, zombies, etc. One of the playable characters resembled the image shown below. Later I was to find that the chain restaurants were clustered closer to the station than where I was walking

The name of this structure escapes me, A (somethjing). Its across from the Nebuta Museum, near the JR station and under one of the pillars of the Aomori Bay Bridge. Inside there is a small food court that sells sandwiches and baked goods. They also have an area where you can sample the local ciders and juices. One area has regular ciders and juices while the other side has them with a slight bit of alcohol due to fermentation. They also have floorspace dedicated to selling gifts and souvenirs of local products from jams and jellies to wines and beverages. Its much closer to the train station but does not have an observation deck like the ASPAM does

Japan 2011-Snow Scenes 2

As mentioned before, we had spent alot of time on trains during the middle portion of our vacation. The weather varied as we travelled through different parts of Hokkaido and the northern portions of Honshu. Some areas had the sun shining in clear blue skies while other areas were gray and snowy.

Much of the ride to Hakodate was dreary. On the flipside, the shorter 2 hour train to Aomori was sunnier. We would not be able to take advantage of the sun as almost half the trip would be spent in an underwater tunnel that connects Hokkaido and Honshu. I should have taken better notes so I dont remember if this was before or after the submarine passage.

As I gazed at the mountains in the distance, it reminds me alot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The range stretches between the California and Nevada statelines. I had spent many a winter at various ski resorts that dot the range. Enjoying the fine skiing, taking in the great scenery, hanging out with friends were always activities that I would look forward to when the white stuff would fall enough to blanket the slopes

The only reason I post this picture is because I was so surprised that it came out pretty decently. Once again, I was in between cars and barely saw this coming up. I quickly reached for my camera and took the shot before it was beyond the frame of the window and beyond my capability to capture it.

As we neared Tokyo, the weather had turned once again to a dreary state. Gray clouds obscured the sun and cast a dower mood over the area. It was no matter to us since were warm and dry within the confines of our coach. The weather stayed much like this for the rest of the time that we were in Tokyo. The sunshine would come out on that rare occasion. We met with unexpected snow on our departure date of Feb 11. Furtunately, this was just the beginning and not much of it would stick to the ground before we made our way to the train platform. It was still a sight to see for me. I have travelled to Tokyo many a time in winter and this was the first time to expetience the falling snow. Last year, the weather was warmer and I got alot of rain on many of the days of my stay. But by now, I had already had my fill of snow from Hokkaido.

Japan 2011-Snow Scenes

Since it is winter time that I was travelling through Japan, one would expect to see some snow here and there. Especially on the island of Hokkaido on the nearby areas. Below is shot from our final approach into New Chitose airport. It was fortunate that it was not snowing that day conditions were favorable for touching down. Some of our travelmates were not as lucky but managed to land anyway. Their flight's departure from Narita was delayed. Before departure, the passengers were warned that landing conditions were not optimal and they may have to turn back if needed. Well, after being in a holding pattern for a few hours, their plane did land and they made their way to hotel, arriving shortly after midnight.

Sapporo was devinitely blessed with snow. Temps were usually in the minus single digits but at times did not feel as cold as the thermometer was stating. The picture below shows the one-way street just 1 block east of the street that the subway line Nanboku line runs under. I believe this is West 3rd? The first morning, I had watched several snow plows going rhough the area to clear the streets for traffic. Not to say that there was much traffic at 7am. For the most part, I had found the Susukino are to be pretty quiet when we ere out and about during the day. It was a much livlier scene at night after people got off work. The succeeding days were warmer and much of the snow on the ground began to melt away only to refreeze to ice and make walkways very slippery

While on the train Otaru, workers at this station were busy building igloos from the available snow. Two men were building up this particular one. They would then hollow out a cavity. for what purpose, I dont know but it could have been a decoration in preperation for all the people that would be passing this way the next day when Otaru would be initiating their winter festival

Many many many hours were spend on the train this trip: 3.5 hours from Sapporo to Hakodate, 2 hours from Hakodate to Aomori, and another 3.5 hours from Aomori to Tokyo. This does not include the shorter 1 hour or less trips to places like Kawagoe, Tsukuba, etc. The cars are heated but I tend to think they are overheated. So, I spend alot of time standing in between cars watching the scenery pass by through these smaller windows. Alot of the landscape is harder to capture through these windows as you dont get to see much of what is coming up. this leaves little time to get out the camera, get it ready, then compose your shot.

For things in the distance like mountains and shorelines, its not hard to get the camera up to the window and zoom in for the shot to avoice the frame of the window. I saw alot of mountains and coastline as our extended train rides whizzed by many moutains and hugged the coastline on many legs of the excursion