Summer in Aomori

It has been a while. Last I wrote was Golden Week when I went to the Philippines! Since then summer in Aomori has come and gone. Aomori is so far north that the summers are nice and cool. Every week there was always a barbecue, beer garden, or festival happening. Japan loves summer. It is never hard to walk down the street, bike around or listen outside your door to find a festival. Local shrines, neighborhoods, just about anything will hold a festival. Usually consisting of numerous food stands, yaki soba, yaki tori, chocolate bananas, shaved ice, many little fair games, and giving people chances to look cute and walk around in summer kimonos.
One of the largest festivals in Japan is Nebuta, which is held in Aomori city, but other versions of Nebuta are held in other parts of the prefecture. Nebuta is held every year from Aug 2-7. Months prior Nebuta artists start constructing their intricate paper floats, and musicians practice the traditional Aomori nebuta flute and drums. So many people visit Aomori during this week, so many that only one out of ten people actually live in Aomori (statistic I learned this year)!! During this week I hosted many couch surfers (a new phenomenon where you can stay with people all throughout the world to learn more about the local area and have a place to stay). I hosted people from, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Ireland, Serbia, and Spain. It was a busy week and a full house!
During this week, people dress up in the Nebuta outfits, join a group, hop two times on one foot and two times on the other, yelling "Rase Ra, Rase Ra"! For about three hours. I participated with the foreigners group the second night, and the PTA the third night. I went every day to the festival though. The final day is a two hour fireworks display and floating the winning floats out on the ocean for their final appearance. Once Nebuta is over, it is said that summer in Aomori is over. And it pretty much is. It has started to get cooler and beginning to feel more like fall.
But the following week after Nebuta I took a week off work and went to Shizuoka and Osaka. I studied abroad three years ago in Osaka and I wanted to be reunited with my friends and host family! So first I went to Shizuoka where my good friend, Hiroaki, is working. Spent a few days there, and experienced my largest earthquake (a six, highest is seven), we were rocking and rolling and a few things falling. Then we drove together to Osaka where I met up with my good friends Shunsuke and Hiroshi. The following days I met up with my speaking partners Akira, Kitt-chan and Aimi. And then spent some time with my amazing host family. It was very hot in Osaka, 38 degrees, whereas Aomori only gets to about 25!
But now I am back in Aomori which is beginning to get chilly. But in one week I will be headed to Taiwan with my friend Christy for a week! Three holidays happen to fall in a row, so its like another Golden week, so new name - Silver week! We are really excited, Taiwan has SO much to offer, more than we ever knew, six days will be too short but we are looking forward to couch surfing and a lot of great scenery and delicious food!

Here are some more pictures of Nebuta and trip to Shizuoka/Osaka, please check them out!
http://picasaweb.google.com/TesiaSmith