Hirosaki Castle Cherry Blossom Festival

We recently went on a trip to Hirosaki Castle Cherry Blossom Festival. Hirosaki is a town about two and half hours away from Misawa. It used to be the capital of our prefecture, but was replaced by Aomori because of its more centralized location.

Hirosaki has a castle originally built in 1611 although the current structure was built in the 1800's. There are over 2600 cherry blossom trees planted all around the castle grounds, making it one of the most popular cherry blossom festivals in Japan.

We signed up for a base tour so we could just hop on the bus and not have to worry about parking or directions. It turned out perfect, because parking was crazy. We were hoping for a decent day, but it was chilly and raining off and on. It wasn't terrible, but we were both wishing for bluer skies! We sucked it up through the wet with hoods, but most Japanese had umbrellas. They got a little ridiculous in the crowded sections and poor Jeff kept getting hit since he's a head taller than most Japanese. His head lines up with all of their umbrellas...

Here are the pictures!

We tried to steer clear of the crowds by sticking to the less centralized sections of the castle grounds.

He loves pictures!

Growing bamboo and trees.

One of the more crowded sections...

The oldest cherry blossom tree in Japan.

Hirosaki Castle

Best.picture.ever

The food section was the most crowded. So many delicious smells. I'll never get used to seeing an entire fish on a stick though...

The most amazing ramen after a chilly, rainy day

We had a lot of fun exploring a new town and getting out of Misawa for the day. Both of us really enjoy seeing pieces of history like an old castle in northern Japan.

Progress on Day Zero Project

Long time, no talk. I've been busy trying to survive the heat sans air conditioning and starting a new job.

I'm chugging along very slowly on my Day Zero Project. Here are some of the things I've accomplished or started.

23.   Go to five Japanese festivals (2/5)

Summer is full of festivals in Japan. And while Jeff and I are usually lazy on the weekends and don't feel like driving, there were some festivals in Misawa. We both worked American Day in June, which is a festival for the Japanese put on by Misawa Air Base. I blogged about it here - American Day .

We just went to the Misawa Tanabata Festival last night. I'll probably blog about it sometime soon, but here's a short description of the festival, and here's a description of the Tanabata legend (I don't know the accuracy of this story). We waited until evening to go because it's been so hot and humid, but even then we could only stand the crowds and heat for a little bit. It was interesting to see though.



14.   Go to Tokyo
24.   Take five ITT Tours 
29.   See a sumo wrestling match


I'm knocking three out in one by signing up for an ITT (Information, Tickets, and Travel) tour to Tokyo to see a sumo wrestling match in September. I cannot wait! It's a short trip, which will give us a quick taste of Tokyo and give us a better idea of what we want to see when we return for a longer trip.


67.   Cook seafood at home five times (1/5) 

I attempted a tilapia recipe last week. It was okay, very bland. I think I overcooked it because the fish was very dry. I've since gotten some suggestions and I'll probably try another seafood dinner soon. I also want to try salmon. So far, salmon sushi is one of my favorites.


94.   Watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy

Jeff's been bugging me to watch the trilogy ever since I made this list. I finally gave in and we're watching the first movie. Since it's too hot to do much and I'm fighting a headache, hanging out on the couch in front of a fan with a long movie sounds like a good Sunday afternoon.



Happy weekend! Can you believe it's almost August? I can't.

American Day

American Day is a big festival the Americans here in Misawa throw for the Japanese. All the groups and clubs on base can buy tables and sell their food, raising money for whatever they need. There's a parade and lots of fried and sugary foods. Japanese don't use sugar nearly as much as we do, so they love anything sweet.

Jeff was working two booths this year - our command's FRG (Family Readiness Group) and his Second Class Petty Officers Association. I'm never able to go to FRG meetings because I work, but said I'd be willing to help as needed.

Jeff got there at around 6am. I, the non-morning person, arrived around 9am. All the tables were set up right outside the main gate. I tracked him down at the Second Class booth, so I hung around and chit chatted. I said I'd be more than happy to help them (the FRG had more hands available anyways) so I dug right in. Jeff left to work at the FRG booth while I assembled dozens of philly cheese steak sandwiches.

We got into a decent routine. The guys took care of grilling and taking orders.

And I assembled. Jeff tried to help me out when he came back from the other booth, but by that time I was in a groove and he was just getting in my way. I pushed him over to taking orders. That's him on the right.

It was surprisingly a lot of fun. I saw a lot of friends stop by and our booth was nonstop. The boys did good - the booth caught everyone's eye and had people coming for a closer look. They made a huge profit, and sold out of Philly cheese steak.

This year each booth had a state and had to base its theme on the state's movies. I wish I'd taken pictures because some were pretty good. But when I took a break, I was just hungry! I loved Illinois - it had Wayne's World! The FRG had Maine, so they served fish and chips. The Enlisted Spouses Club had some delicious funnel cake, their movie was Dirty Dancing -- is that Virginia?? This booth was obviously Philadelphia - hence the Rocky theme. They even had music playing.  I told Jeff their planning and prep definitely helped. A lot of the booths just had a poster or two and really didn't stand out in the crowd. This one did.

Maybe next year I'll get some pictures of the other booths!