Aomori Nebuta Festival

The Aomori Nebuta festival is probably the biggest/most well-known festival in this region of the whole year (and that's saying something- there are a lot of them). In all our years here, we've missed it for one reason or another every summer. Knowing this was our last chance to go, we made sure we got our butts out to Aomori (city) to see it last weekend.

So yeah, we got there. And then we sort of saw it. 

The parade started at 7:10. We caught the 3:50 train from Misawa, and it was already standing room only for the 75 minute ride. After the stops along the way, by the time we arrived, the train was as sardine-packed as any Tokyo rush-hour subway. In Aomori, we slowly made our way through the packed streets, stopping to eat a fried mashed-potato ball here, an ice cream cone there. By the time we found a place to stand along the parade route, we were stuck behind poles and trees and people. Seeing as how my main excitement over the festival was the photography opportunity, I was a sad panda. So, sorry for the less-than-stellar pics.

It was a really awesome event though. There was so much energy! The parade was colorful and loud and boisterous. The floats were huge and awesome. The people were happy. It definitely had a great vibe to it!

We left early to ensure we would make it on a train back to Misawa before midnight (because we're old now). We did, although it was packed to the brink even an hour before the parade ended. Crazy, I tell you.

Misawa will have it's smaller-scale version of this festival with the big floats in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll get to take some better pictures there. Stay tuned.