NAMAHAGE!  Today we are out on the Oga Peninsula going to see the Namahage cultural center, museum, and temple.  The Namahage are deeply routed in the folklore in the northern part of Japan.  There are several different versions of the spirit: the Namahage, the Yamahage, and the Amahage.  The Namahage are in Akita and come down on New Years Eve to visit the local families.  Bad children are threatened to be taken up into the mountains, good children are praised, and blessings are bestowed upon the whole family.  Each village has a slightly different variation of the tradition and the costumes vary as well.   

Today was another repositioning day.  We are heading from Misawa to Akita with the Hirosaki Castle at the midpoint.  The castle was built in the early 1600s during the samurai era.  When we were there, they were doing some restorations and had moved the castle about 75 meters on rollers to do work on the stone foundations.  It was cool to go to the same castle just in different positions lol.

Today we ventured out through the Oirase gorge to Lake Towada.  Lake Towada is a volcanic lake that feeds the river for the Oirase gorge.  We stopped along the winding route to photograph along the river, do some light hiking and enjoy the waterfalls and natural beauty around us.

Happy 4th of July!

Today is fish market day!!!!! (after hitting the post office and mailing back the rice cooker and a bunch of other souvenirs).  The kids are so excited to walk around and see (and smell) the exotic Japanese fish market: the Hasshoku Center.  We went down to Hachinohe which has one of the largest indoor fish markets in Japan.  Outside the market, the kids prepared themselves with menthol scented nose plugs (that I found at the Japanese dollar store).  After walking in, they realized that the smell wasn’t that bad and ditched the nose plugs (lol).  It was a fun field trip just to see, get ice cream, and then head off to the Shimoda Mall for the big arcade.

Today was another repositioning day.  In the morning we went to the Morioka Handiworks square to see a local artist colony.  They feature indigo dying, cast iron, pottery, toy making, and wicker working.  There was a gentleman in one of the cast iron shops that had a fantastic presentation about what he was making and used his tablet to translate his  “sales pitch”.  He offered us coffee that he had placed an ingot that removes impurities and any rust .  It was the purist freshest tasting coffee we had ever had.  Then he gave us hot water with the same ingot…again, it was very fresh tasting.  We were sold!  Then he showed us his other hobbies; photography and audio.  His sound system was to die for.  He played the Eagles’ Hotel California and we thought we were at the concert.  This truly was a memorable experience.

This morning we got a later start because we needed to figure out how to pack our very tightly packed car.  After much Jenga maneuvering, we finally found a configuration that would sorta work (until Jessica bought a rice cooker…but that’s a different story).

Sendai is one of the larger cities north of Tokyo and our half way point to Misawa.

Today was our big transition day.  We traveled by taxis to Tokyo station and bought tickets for the Shinkansen, the bullet train.  Because we bought tickets last minute we were all split up, sitting in the middle seats but at least we were all on the same train. We made it to Sendai, Jessica and Kevin had to go to the airport to pick up the rental car.  Michael and Denise stayed at the hotel with the kids while waiting.  They ventured out and found a Japanese noodle house and were loving it!

Day 2: Day two was a day for exploring.  We first had to figure out the subway: everyone but Lily was able to get the rail card right on our phones; however, because Lily isn’t 13 yet we had to get her a physical card which took a little time.  The subway is always fun.  Our first stop was the Imperial Palace that is still the residence of the Emperor.  We were only allowed to walk around the grounds, but they are quite stunning!

Day 1 was an epic start to our family 2025 Japanese vacation.  After a huge breakfast where we sampled western and eastern cuisine, we made the excellent bad decision to walk 3 miles in the 86 degree 89% humidity. We left at around 10:00 am for a 1:00pm taiko drum class/experience to explore the city along our route.