10 Places to Stop & Smell the Flowers

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Golden Week

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It's Been A Year

I've thought about this post a lot, probably more than I should have. So many different things to address...the usual questions that we get any time we move somewhere, what we've done, how we've grown...so let's do it all. I have the time, hopefully you do, too.

So it's been a year. An entire year, since all of our belongings were placed on the slow boat from Alaska to Japan. Seriously was a slow boat; it took about two months.

Everything we own and quite possibly the happiest day of my life.

FOR THE CURIOUS TYPES
I'll start with the Q&A. Non-readers can go ahead a scroll a bit, there will be pictures later...promise.

Q (actually more of a statement): I bet the sushi is really good.

A: It's probably not what you expect. If you haven't done a lot of world traveling, then you are not aware of the fact that the foreign food you eat in the United States is very different in its country of origin. When you think of sushi I'm sure you imagine some of your favorite rolls, fried in tempura, with cream cheese and four kinds of fish. Actual sushi is much more simple than that. It is typically just fish, very fresh I may add, on top of rice. That's it.

This is as complex as Japanese sushi gets.

 Now this whole things operates everywhere. Japanese interpretations of American foods are just as different as ours are of theirs. There is a pizza place that has a pie called the American and is topped with fries and hotdogs. The whole point of all this is, I really miss American sushi, with all the crazy rolls.

Q: Have you seen a ninja?

A: No. I am one. Next question.

Q: Do your dogs (who are Japanese) understand English?

A: I really hope this isn't a serious question. If it is, slap yourself. Though I do think I may teach them Japanese commands just to mess with everyone when we move.

I harf regret not buying this.

 Q: Ohhhhh herrrroooo!

A: Yes, there is that, and it is funny. And don't tell me it's mean, because my Japanese co-workers laugh just as hard when we try to speak their language. For the record, we sound like Chinese tourists.

And the doozy of them all....

Q: How do you like Japan?

A: It's tough, and not for the faint of heart. We live in rural Japan. Many of the conversations I've had in the past year would surprise you. Discussions about flying to Korea to shop. Discussions about the best way to keep your house cool on a 90 degree day with 100% humidity when you don't have air conditioning. Discussions on the best time to go to the grocery store so you have a fighting chance at getting vegetables that aren't rotten. Scouring a Facebook group to find out how to insure your car. Trying to assemble household goods based on pictures alone. Figuring out how to get ready in the morning with only a single bathroom. Trying to communicate with someone who doesn't understand what you're saying.

The hardest part is not being able to read. For the longest time, I would just stare at the characters, hoping they would come together to create a meaning. The only thing I have picked up so far is the symbol for Hachinohe (the nearest city to the south of us) and Misawa. So I guess you could say I have the most important ones memorized.

And if you want to focus on all of that, you could say Misawa sucks, as many people who live here believe.

Or you can take the route I try to travel and see the good. So one of the best things about living here is that every day is an adventure. There's always a hike to go on, a beach to comb for sea glass or sand dollars, a festival of food and culture. Then there's the fact that our neighbors and friends here are amazing. We barbecue frequently - beer, bonfires, and all. And just for a little bit, you forget you're so far away.

And the food! The food is amazing. The Japanese take pride in what they do, so if they own a certain type of restaurant, it is the best. The man who owns the pizza place mentioned above studied in Italy and all of the wine in his restaurant is imported from Italy, with the seal to prove it.

I guess you could say Japan will probably never be home, like Alaska or Nebraska were, but it's a damn good vacation.

FOR THE NON-READERS...
Don't worry, I didn't forget about you. Here's some of my favorite pictures from my favorite places we've been to in the past year.

Shipwreck Beach. Unfortunately, the ships are now gone.

Sunset in Noheji

Lake Towada

Hirosaki Castle in the fall

Lake Towada Snow Festival. The entire thing is made of snow, including the bar.

Big Buddha in Aomori City

Miss Veedol Beach in Misawa

Kabushima (Seagull Island) in Hachinohe

Driving through the Hakkodas

The Golden Line when it officially opens again in April.

The shrine at Big Buddha

Children's Day carp in Kitakami

Hirosaki Castle during cherry blossom season

Towada City Art Museum

Karumai Tulip Festival

So there you have it. That's our first year, and it's been a wild one. I cannot wait to see where the next two will take us. Oh the places you will go...

More Of The Cherry Blossom Tour

I meant to write this much sooner, but it's been really busy. All the festivals have begun, as the spring has slowly began to fade into summer. But before getting into the crazy of summer, and it is pretty crazy, I wanted to share the cherry blossoms from Hirosaki Castle.

Hirosaki is about two and a half hours north of Misawa and is where we went to see all of the fall colors at the Chrysanthemum Festival. Hirosaki is one of the top sakura viewing areas not only in Japan, but in the entire world. People travel from all over the country to attend the festival.

Since the life of the cherry blossom is very short, we knew about half of the country would be in Hirosaki for the weekend; therefore, we left as soon as the dogs woke up (far too early) and were in Hirosaki by 8 a.m. The Japanese are not early risers, most stores don't even open until 10 a.m., so we pretty much had the park to ourselves.

Weeping cherry blossom tree

Another weeping cherry blossom tree

We made our way through the park and decided to get some festival food. There was a huge line for what appeared to be hot coffee on a stick. Coffee jello is really big up here, so I figure it was that. I was wrong.

Taking a big ole bite of hot soy sauce jello. Gross.

Mark faired a little better with a kabob.

Tempura fried corn - OMGZ!

Dessert - strawberry lollipops. Also called filling rippers. 

These are at EVERY festival and it freaks me out.

Our neighbor taking a big bite of snail. He said it was okay.

Past all the food, there was a cherry blossom tunnel. Trees lined both sides of the moat, and you could even rent a paddle boat. I told Mark he wasn't a real man unless he took me on a paddle boat. I was joking. He didn't get the memo, so I had to stop him in the middle of the boat rental transaction. I'm sure it would have been fun, but it was kind of cold and rainy that day and I really didn't need to fall in the moat.

Red bridges everywhere.

No boat ride for us, thank you.

Guarding the entrance to the tunnel was a tanuki. A tanuki is a Japanese raccoon dog, which is most known for its huge nuts. They're really big...and comical.

My Japanese co-worker said the banner says "Welcome"

While the whole point of the festival was the cherry blossoms, Mark was consumed with photographing the Hirosaki ducks. They are some of the most beautiful ducks I've ever seen.

All in all, we were glad we went, even though it was super crowded. Getting there ridiculously early was definitely the right move; we got to enjoy parts of the festival some of our friends who left later didn't. We definitely liked the Chrysanthemum Festival better because the colors were so vibrant. I don't know if we'll be back for the blossoms next year, but we now have one more event checked off on our list!

Spring Has Sprung!

It's finally spring in Misawa! The winter actually wasn't as horrible as everyone made it sound, but leave to the Alaskans to be unimpressed.

Spring in Japan is absolutely beautiful. Almost every single tree is a cherry blossom, and it felt like it took them FOREVER to bloom. But once they did, you better believe Mark and I were out every chance we got to capture the beauty.

To start the cherry blossom season, we went about 3 hours south to Kitakami with our neighbors. We took the day off of work, squeezed into our car, and took off. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, upper 60s and sunny. Unfortunately, we went down during Golden Week, which is five Japanese holidays all packed into one week; therefore, it was really really crowded.

Neighbors!

We went to Tenshochi Park, which is a popular sakura, or cherry blossom, viewing area because it has over 10,000 trees in the area. The cherry blossom is very important to Japanese culture. Many companies will send a junior staff member out during the workday to claim a spot under the trees for their hanami, or cherry blossom party. Most people picnic under the trees, while playing music and socializing, for hours on end.

I think this was the mascot of the festival. They wouldn't let us take a picture with it.

The lanterns light up at night for the hanami parties.

There are actually many different species of cherry blossoms, though most of the ones we saw were either white or pink.

Close up of the white blossoms.

Such a lovely day.

Pink blossoms.

One of the holidays making up Golden Week is Children's Day. Children's Day celebrates the happiness of children and their unique personalities. Carp flags are placed everywhere in celebration. At Tenshochi Park, they had carp flags strung across the entire river.

Traditionally, the black carp stands for the father, the red carp stands for the mother, and the blue carp stands for their son. Children's Day was originally Boy's Day, with Girl's Day in February, but they have since combined it to make it for all children.

Due to the longer winter, it took a little longer for the cherry blossoms to bloom, but it was well worth the wait. It took an entire extra week for the blossoms to start blooming up north near Misawa.