Its Friday night and Im sittig in my room in Kabukicho recalling events from a few days ago instead of dippingmy toes into the swirling pool of energy that is Shinjuku nght life. It is as cold as the hottest days in Aomori. The direct train on th eOu ilne takes about 45 minutes. I have wanted to come back since that visit in 2011 to revisit the Nebuta Museum and to experience the parade. This is the second to last day but the last time they will march about the streets at night Inexpensive admission to the displays. Many of which I remember like the create your own nebuta face near the entry. Afterwards it opens up to a black room with a few floats and exhibits of partials to demonstrate how they are built up from a wire frame structure. The black room helps to simulate the atmosphere s they are pulled around the route at nightfall. For the longest time, I kept a picture of a head as it develops from, left to right, fully contrusted and painted to the wire structure with the wired lights. It always made me think of how its pahsing from nothingness to coming to life. Aother row of heads adorn above the pathway to the exit. I didnt have the patience to take a picture of each and everyone as I did when I was younger.
I wasnt expecting much when I went over to the ASPAM building to past he time before finding a patch of ground along the route. To my amazement, there were a number of food stalls in front of and behind the A framed structure. The usual restaurants, souvenir shops and all were packed to the gills. This is where the Nebutas were being staged. Imagine the Neputas but larger and three dimensional. They depict fantastical scenes of warriors and warlords battling each other or mythical creatures. All housed here in large tents until showtime.
Speaking of, I went down the street to find my electrical box. Looking at the west side of the street so I could keepAspam in the background. Not only did I have to go pretty far but I eventually had to cross the street to find the closest one I could claim. Turns out it was the same corner as another Youtuber who attend a previous year. Like Hirosaki, the groups comprised the band(drummers and flute players), the dancers, and the floats. Their chant began with "Rasse rasse rasse ra" and the same was echoed back. Didnt keep a count of the floats but this also lasted a bit longer than 2 hours. I gave up hope that it would end anytime soon and began to pack up and leave as the last float came by. For some reason, I made a beeline for the train station to catch the next train. It was like the early moring commute with the cars of the trained packed to the rafters. While we waited for departure there was always 1 person every few minutes that had to squeeze into the train. Anyway, made it to Hriosaki by 10pm. This was the last day for Hirosaki's event but you could hardly tell it completed about an hour before. Hirosaki has 2 routes. One is along Dotemachi and the one around the JR station.
