Floats!
On going photo journal insanity! Due to some sort of great fortune/Emm's host father being in the Rotary Club, we were invited by the rotary club to go to Aomori to see the Tachinebuta Festival. Tachinebuta literally means standing floats. The wonderful thing about going with bunches of people decades older than you is that the bus stops a lot for restroom breaks helping to prevent the inevitable bus saddle sores. It took about seven hours. Grossly expensive highway tolls shocked the pants off me at a later time. One hour on the highway is equivalent to almost 30 dollars in tolls. Highway robbery indeed!
Aomori is famous for apples. On our way up, one of the rest stops had an all-red
. These are rather nifty, as the flesh is a bright crimson color as well. Oh the surprises held within a normal apple peel!
We got there about 3 hours before the festival began to snark down some seats with a hoedown of lawn chairs. To allay our boredom, we went to check out the parade setup stuff.
Indeed it was giant. I heard the mention that many large Holsteins died to bring us this drum of glory. I think it was larger than my sophomore year single!
Once the night became apparent (following a burst of downpour in the afternoon) the powerful sounds of blasting drums came into the forefront along with long lines of people in traditional dance mode. The effect was mildly altered by the insane 80s hairstyles a la punk Cher but still interesting. I suppose the cultural diffusion in the world manifests itself in interesting ways. The more traditional floats depicted characters from Japanese myths/folk tales that I have no knowledge of whatsoever. They did look pretty
The standard method of presentation involved being announced with an vanguard of drums, then the float would come along and prance merrily about the asphalt catwalk. Almost all of them turned in some way to give people the full 360 of visual pleasure. Then dancers extravagant with more drums. One reason for the turning was the inclusion of a more complex storyboard on the back of traditional floats. These storyboards looked quite nice though the meaning was mildly lost to me. Cool images of
I like the one with the falling cosmic doom very much.
The mixing of local and Western cultures have definitely results in some other sorts of floats that may not be considered of the highest traditional standard though still made in such a fashion.
was quite a hit with the kids. Lovingly referred to as Pooh-san, I think they've decided to abandon the other members of the Pooh pantheon to their respective dooms. Very cute though! For a touch of local flavor,
was rather cute as well. Though, in retrospect, these might not actually be ice cream cones of death as much as dango on a stick (mochi rice ball stick things). Still looked tasty though menacing in the way that all striped ice cream folks seem to be. Something about the stripes... Of course no self respecting display of Japanese popular culture would be complete without
. Rather fun. I definitely felt some instant perking in the crowd when the old Gundam theme came on with all its cheezy fanfare from the olden days.
After a long day of float-thumping fun, we returned to our wondrous hotel with both personal hot springs in room and the giant hot spring insanity near the lobby. Hmmm... Hot springs... Totally spoiled by the 24/7 hot bath water in Japan. Hmmmm...
was the least we could do after capitalizing on their kindness. Very nice of these Rotary Club folks. I suppose without there being any "kids" on the bus except for Emm's host sister, we had quite a time with the treating and counter-treating of bus treats. Fight to the death with hospitality indeed! Oh the gift-giving in Japan!
Speaking of gift-giving, omiyage or souvenirs from places you travel are strongly emphasized in Japan. Seems like we'd practically have tiny expense accounts ready to purchase various local products to bring back to basically anyone we'd come into contact with in Onomachi. Nice thing about this is that all sorts of fun local products get brought by folks, and they must be local else their not really souvenirs of the place. Aomori is known for seafood and apples. I definitely invested in some cute apple-shaped cakes made at some local bakery. Quite an industry I must say and interesting with having all these individualized items for each area. Hello Kitty avatars for every town ever! Lots of fun. We stopped at a squid-specialty omiyage shop on the way back home. We also probably stopped at exbillion touristy places as well. Added an extra five hours to travel time but all in all enjoyable. At the squiddy shop, I saw
and thought it was absolutely adorable. Cute tiny squids miming personal hygiene activities? Fantastic! We also saw the
on the way to the shop. It looks remarkable different from the Pacific ocean. It's a lot lighter in color and salt content. Moo! Part of our meandering journey home was a stop at the Fushifurou Hot Springs. Fushifurou literally means, "not dying, not aging." It was okay. I wish the water were a bit warmer, but I took part in one of the outdoor hot springs so perhaps no such luck with the sharp ocean breeze.
Finally on our list of travel places, we went to
. Aoike literally means, "blue pond". Some may debate that aoi also suggests bluish green or leaf green. It was indeed that. Simply a remarkable place, surrounded by shadowy woods that cocoon a very gentle light into a very turquoise lake. I think it has something to do with the minerals inside and sorts of algae growth. Just fascinating! I feel like if I were ever to set up a temple to ancient gods and scare the bejeezus out of people by stepping out of odd angles and inviting passing folk to my garden of magic, this would definitely be a fine place. If only I could perfect the whole walking on water and stalking through forest thing. Seems like falling into the world of the Fae would not be compatible with my love for hot showers, SciFi television, and books. Hmmm.... There's a Lady of the Lake, surely there can be the Young Man of the Pond. I wonder what sort of weapon I can heave out of the lake when I meet my champion, a stout leaf? A dashing swath of blue-green algae? I'll keep it in mind if my job hunting fails. Blooh!
Aomori is famous for apples. On our way up, one of the rest stops had an all-red
. These are rather nifty, as the flesh is a bright crimson color as well. Oh the surprises held within a normal apple peel!
We got there about 3 hours before the festival began to snark down some seats with a hoedown of lawn chairs. To allay our boredom, we went to check out the parade setup stuff.
Indeed it was giant. I heard the mention that many large Holsteins died to bring us this drum of glory. I think it was larger than my sophomore year single!
Once the night became apparent (following a burst of downpour in the afternoon) the powerful sounds of blasting drums came into the forefront along with long lines of people in traditional dance mode. The effect was mildly altered by the insane 80s hairstyles a la punk Cher but still interesting. I suppose the cultural diffusion in the world manifests itself in interesting ways. The more traditional floats depicted characters from Japanese myths/folk tales that I have no knowledge of whatsoever. They did look pretty
The standard method of presentation involved being announced with an vanguard of drums, then the float would come along and prance merrily about the asphalt catwalk. Almost all of them turned in some way to give people the full 360 of visual pleasure. Then dancers extravagant with more drums. One reason for the turning was the inclusion of a more complex storyboard on the back of traditional floats. These storyboards looked quite nice though the meaning was mildly lost to me. Cool images of
I like the one with the falling cosmic doom very much.
The mixing of local and Western cultures have definitely results in some other sorts of floats that may not be considered of the highest traditional standard though still made in such a fashion.
was quite a hit with the kids. Lovingly referred to as Pooh-san, I think they've decided to abandon the other members of the Pooh pantheon to their respective dooms. Very cute though! For a touch of local flavor,
was rather cute as well. Though, in retrospect, these might not actually be ice cream cones of death as much as dango on a stick (mochi rice ball stick things). Still looked tasty though menacing in the way that all striped ice cream folks seem to be. Something about the stripes... Of course no self respecting display of Japanese popular culture would be complete without
. Rather fun. I definitely felt some instant perking in the crowd when the old Gundam theme came on with all its cheezy fanfare from the olden days.
After a long day of float-thumping fun, we returned to our wondrous hotel with both personal hot springs in room and the giant hot spring insanity near the lobby. Hmmm... Hot springs... Totally spoiled by the 24/7 hot bath water in Japan. Hmmmm...
was the least we could do after capitalizing on their kindness. Very nice of these Rotary Club folks. I suppose without there being any "kids" on the bus except for Emm's host sister, we had quite a time with the treating and counter-treating of bus treats. Fight to the death with hospitality indeed! Oh the gift-giving in Japan!
Speaking of gift-giving, omiyage or souvenirs from places you travel are strongly emphasized in Japan. Seems like we'd practically have tiny expense accounts ready to purchase various local products to bring back to basically anyone we'd come into contact with in Onomachi. Nice thing about this is that all sorts of fun local products get brought by folks, and they must be local else their not really souvenirs of the place. Aomori is known for seafood and apples. I definitely invested in some cute apple-shaped cakes made at some local bakery. Quite an industry I must say and interesting with having all these individualized items for each area. Hello Kitty avatars for every town ever! Lots of fun. We stopped at a squid-specialty omiyage shop on the way back home. We also probably stopped at exbillion touristy places as well. Added an extra five hours to travel time but all in all enjoyable. At the squiddy shop, I saw
and thought it was absolutely adorable. Cute tiny squids miming personal hygiene activities? Fantastic! We also saw the
on the way to the shop. It looks remarkable different from the Pacific ocean. It's a lot lighter in color and salt content. Moo! Part of our meandering journey home was a stop at the Fushifurou Hot Springs. Fushifurou literally means, "not dying, not aging." It was okay. I wish the water were a bit warmer, but I took part in one of the outdoor hot springs so perhaps no such luck with the sharp ocean breeze.
Finally on our list of travel places, we went to
. Aoike literally means, "blue pond". Some may debate that aoi also suggests bluish green or leaf green. It was indeed that. Simply a remarkable place, surrounded by shadowy woods that cocoon a very gentle light into a very turquoise lake. I think it has something to do with the minerals inside and sorts of algae growth. Just fascinating! I feel like if I were ever to set up a temple to ancient gods and scare the bejeezus out of people by stepping out of odd angles and inviting passing folk to my garden of magic, this would definitely be a fine place. If only I could perfect the whole walking on water and stalking through forest thing. Seems like falling into the world of the Fae would not be compatible with my love for hot showers, SciFi television, and books. Hmmm.... There's a Lady of the Lake, surely there can be the Young Man of the Pond. I wonder what sort of weapon I can heave out of the lake when I meet my champion, a stout leaf? A dashing swath of blue-green algae? I'll keep it in mind if my job hunting fails. Blooh!