Aomori City is located in the far northern part of Honshu, Japan's main island. We arrived early this morning and were docked by 8:00 am. There was a large, gala reception group waiting for us, including city officials, a loud, energetic band, big fuzzy animal-costumed characters, and lots of decorations. Then a red ground cover, chairs, microphones, and loudspeakers were set up. This was the first Crystal Serenity visit to Aomori, and they apparently were very happy to see us.
As soon as the gangway was set in place, Captain Vorland and four other ship’s officers appeared. There were speeches given by both sides (with a translator), gifts exchanged, and the band (especially the drums) played unique energetic Aomori music (more on that later). All of this took place in cloudy, chilly 43º (F) weather. I think our ship’s officers were sorry they wore short-sleeve, tropical white uniforms. Of course, Captain Vorland is Norwegian, so maybe he thought the weather was pleasant.
We couldn’t think of a local port town being so excited about a ship visit we were on since Puerto Princesa, in the Philippines, three years ago (on our Holland America Grand World Voyage). Anyway, the welcoming attitude continued in town, as there were lots of signs welcoming the ship, and everyone we met was excited to greet us. At least we think that was the case, as everyone was speaking Japanese, except for one or two Caucasian people who spoke English. They must live in Aomori and came out to help with answering questions that passengers might have.
The city faces Mutsu Bay to its north and the Hakkōda Mountains to its south. We couldn’t see much of the mountains (which are supposed to be quite impressive), because it was foggy and misty all day. We understand that there are 288,000 hardy, but fun-loving, souls who live here.
Aomori and its surrounding area are renowned for several things. First is heavy snowfall, being the heaviest among all Japanese cities, and, in fact, among the heaviest in the world. It snows in Aomori an average of 108 days per year, with an average snowfall amount of 263.4 inches (nearly 22 feet) per year. That’s a lot of snow! It didn’t snow today, but it felt like it could start any minute when the wind picked up later in the day, along with the cold temperatures.
Even more than its snow, Aomori is best known for the spectacular Nebuta Matsuri Festival held every year from August 2 to 7. Highlighting the festival is the daily parade of large lantern floats, flanked by drums (called “taiko drums”), musicians and dancers.
We decided not to do a shore excursion today, as we wanted to go on our own to the Wa Rasse Nebuta House in Aomori – a museum of Nebuta floats and history. After we walked off the gangway at about 10:00, local people cheerfully gave us city maps. We hopped on the shuttle bus for the 15-minute ride to the train station downtown. As luck would have it, the shuttle dropped us off very close to the museum, and it was just a short walk to the entrance. This a very nice museum, with excellent exhibits, films, and many local people (mostly retired men) who tried to explain the floats to us. Unfortunately, we don’t speak Japanese, and they didn’t speak English. Here’s a photo of one of these men proudly standing in front of one of the floats.
Teams from throughout northern Honshu (especially from around Aomori’s) build the festival's floats, which are constructed of washi paper (made by hand in the traditional Japanese manner) stretched over wire attached to wooden frames, and colorfully painted by specialized artists in vivid colors. The floats are illuminated by hundreds of light bulbs wired and attached to the internal wood frames. A lot of work goes into these floats – it takes each of the teams an entire year to design and construct their floats. They are allowed to be up to nine meters (29.5 feet) wide and five meters (16.4 feet) tall and often with dramatic designs that depict gods fighting demons, as well as historical or mythical figures from either Japanese or Chinese culture.
Here’s a picture we found of a parade in progress, with one of the floats:
Within the museum, we watched an introductory film (spoken only in Japanese) about the festival. From what we understand from the film and other materials we picked up, there’s a parade of floats every day of the festival (August 2-7), except on the last day when the parade is held in the afternoon. The floats are pushed along the streets of downtown Aomori by teams of men, accompanied by taiko drummers, flutes and hand cymbal players, as well as dancers who follow the procession chanting "Rassera, Rassera" in time with the music while performing a dance. One of the local people working in the museum showed us what the dance looked like – something like skipping and hopping. The last evening of the festival, the floats are put onto boats and paraded around the bay, followed by a two hour fireworks display along the waterfront. The city claims that they have an average of 3 million people attend the festival every year.
We took an elevator to the second floor of the museum and paid our admission price – normally 600 Yen, but there was a 10% discount for visitors from Crystal Serenity. We started walking through a man-made tunnel with audiovisual explanations of the parades and the floats. Then you turn a corner and come to an overlook area onto the spectacular scene below with five of the giant floats from the previous year on display. We went down a ramp and were able to walk by each of the floats and examine them up close. Here are some of the floats, to give you an idea of what they’re like:
We took an elevator to the second floor of the museum and paid our admission price – normally 600 Yen, but there was a 10% discount for visitors from Crystal Serenity. We started walking through a man-made tunnel with audiovisual explanations of the parades and the floats. Then you turn a corner and come to an overlook area onto the spectacular scene below with five of the giant floats from the previous year on display. We went down a ramp and were able to walk by each of the floats and examine them up close. Here are some of the floats, to give you an idea of what they’re like:
After walking through the exhibits, we visited a nice gift shop in the museum. Following that we walked less than five minutes over to Aomori’s main railroad station. Interestingly, there are two bullet train lines (Hayate and Hayabusa) that connect Tokyo with Aomori, in addition to other Japan Railroad lines at this station. Attached to the station, there was a 5-story department store and other shops that seemed to specialize in food and snack items, especially apple products – cookies, cakes, dumplings, jam, and apples themselves. We were told that this area produces 60% of the apple crop in Japan.
This area of northern Japan also claims to be the place to come to view cherry blossoms. There’s even a 15-mile road of cherry trees which are spectacular when blooming. Also well-known is Hirosaki Castle, in a nearby town, which is famous for cherry blossoms. The Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival runs April 23 – May 5 this year. Some of our fellow passengers signed up for an excursion to Hirosaki to see the blossoms, but they said blossoming hadn’t started yet due to abnormally cold weather this year.
We returned to the ship in time for a late lunch/snack in The Bistro. Weather never did warm up; it was still in the 40’s this afternoon, and a strong wind picked up, making it seem even colder.
Upon our ship’s departure this afternoon (5:30 pm), the town turned out again for a farewell concert and more speeches. This was a really nice port, with friendly people, and a great cultural experience at the Nebuta Festival museum.
Tomorrow is our last port stop in Japan, as we move further north, to the island of Hokkaido.
Jim & Ginny
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