06/10/2018 / Last updated : 29/01/2023 d.d Festival

Kuroishi and Hachinohe Sansha-Taisai Festival ’18　黒石、八戸三社大祭

Kuroishi Before heading to Hachinohe, we start the day with a walk around Kuroishi, another place that has seen better days. It features a number of dead or dying shops, mixed with interesting remnants of the old town’s former important position and prosperity. The original streets feature covered walkways (komise) to protect the punters from snow during the winter months. Traditional fire towers feature prominently and we noted an old onsen place with free entry but quite what was on free offer I am not sure as we didn’t enter so early in the day. The road past Sukayu Onsen From Kuroishi we took the road over the mountains past […]

04/10/2018 / Last updated : 10/05/2023 d.d Festival

Hirosaki Neputa ’18. Inakadate Tambo Art　弘前ねぷた、田舎館田んぼアート

Bandaisan SA to Hirosaki BanEtsu highway – Tohokudo highway about 485km　　　　　　　 All day on the highway from Bandai san SA to Hirosaki. Arriving in Hirosaki, we check the Road Station Hirosaki. This has a busy market and although parking is limited in a the front, there is more space available at the rear. The toilets are better than the first impression suggests but we decide to check michi-no-eki Inakadate. Tambo Art at Inakadate 2018 Inakadate is a much better prospect from […]

14/09/2018 / Last updated : 07/02/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Hiking Oirase Gorge to Lake Towada　奥入瀬

Day 43, October 2016, Awake well before the 6.30 alarm that D. set to be on the safe side, as we have to make an early start today. It is a cold, windy morning with patches of blue sky but ominous dark clouds racing overhead. We are in a hurry to leave, so a cold breakfast and canned coffee before we drive to the Oirase Gorge, pausing only to take yet more autumn leaf pictures. Oirase Gorge Arriving at Oirase Gorge, we mistake where to stop and as a U-turn is difficult on such a narrow windy road press on and finally stop in the mid-section of the gorge, Ishikedo. […]

12/09/2018 / Last updated : 07/02/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Mt.Hakkoda, Sukayu and Tsuta Onsen　八甲田

Day 42, October 2016, Another beautiful morning, a little cold but bright and clear. There has been a slight frost.　After breakfast, we walk to the nearby Sukayu onsen shop and buy onigiri, boiled eggs and tea for lunch. Then start our climb to Kenashitai wetland on Mt.Hakkoda. Mt. Hakkoda Kenashitai Actually, the start is a little delayed as we are not sure where the start is. Sorted, we are on our way. The first kilometer or so is rather a scramble through beech woods but the tree leaves shining, golden brown against the bright blue sky is recompense enough. As we clear the trees, the going is smoother and the […]

08/09/2018 / Last updated : 07/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Mt. Iwaki and Jogakura Ohashi, Autumn leaves and orchards　岩木山

Day 41, October 2016, Ashino Koen(park) Wake to a beautiful morning in Ashino Koen(park). The truck gent has moved his parking spot for no obvious reason but the tent dispenses a youngish, obviously, homeless man who coughs and spits. Not the best of neighbors. We have forgotten to get bread so have no breakfast and have a spot of panic as I think I have lost my wallet but find it on the floor of the car. We go for a walk across the (apparently) famous bridges. The first, is a floating bridge which is passable but is in a distressing state. What repairs have been carried out are very […]

29/07/2018 / Last updated : 07/02/2023 d.d Arts / Places of interest

Tsugaru Peninsula　津軽

Day 40, October 2016, Today we will tour the Tsugaru Peninsula. There was rain in the night or rather early this morning but my nocturnal peregrinations were not inconvenienced. This morning, there are many camper vans in the car parks. One of them is especially swish and I see some people get the guided tour. We have can coffee and left-over bread. This is the first time we have not been fully prepared for a meal. D. wants to wait until the michi-no-eki vegetable stalls open so we hang around. I walk across the road over to the sea. There is a small, pointed island with the ubiquitous shrine just […]

26/07/2018 / Last updated : 06/02/2023 d.d Temple / Shrine

Osorezan, communing with the dead　恐山

Day 39, October 2016, Yagen Valley　薬研渓谷 We wake to a fine day and breakfast in the early morning sunshine. Before visiting Osorezan, our plan is to walk along a small, nearby river, so we drive a little further up the valley. The footpath, we discover, is in the pine trees and very gloomy. It runs along an old, narrow gauge railway line, now barely visible and the river can hardly be glimpsed at all through the undergrowth, so the prospect for the walk is not encouraging. In the end, we walk back along the road – there are almost no cars – and take lots of useless pictures of the […]

25/07/2018 / Last updated : 06/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Hotokegaura, white ant hill　仏ヶ浦

Day 38, October 2016, Oma, Aomori　　大間 After arriving in Ooma Shimokita peninsula in Aomori by ferry from Hakodate, drive through narrow streets out to the point where everything is Maguro(tuna). We park and wander around the usual shops selling junk and fishy things. A tentacle stall catches my eye, before we find the point itself. Here people are taking pictures and the couple from Osaka are there entering into the spirit of the thing more than D. and I are able. They give D. a name card and we learn they run an izakaya in Sakai city in Osaka. Hotokegaura To find a supermarket, to get some lunch, we wind through […]