So, we kicked off our day in Senshu Park, which is in Akita City, the biggest city in Akita Prefecture. It’s not exactly a bustling metropolis like Tokyo, but it’s got a certain charm to it. The park has this awesome castle perched on a massive hill, and from up there, you get this incredible view of the city and the sea.
After this, we went to the Oga peninsula to learn about the Namahage at the Namahage Museum. The Namahage are demonlike beings portrayed by men wearing hefty ogre masks and traditional straw capes during a New Year’s ritual in local northern Japanese folklore of the Oga Peninsula area of Akita Prefecture. (Source: Wikipedia). The Namahage come on New Years to people’s houses to scare the children (and sometimes adults too) into being good. The tradition may have started long ago in the past when everyone doing their part in farming, helping out, etc. was the difference between life and death.
We saw a Namahage show. These guys are kinda creepy.
In the museum was a hall of all the different kinds of Namahage throughout the Oga peninsula.
Enough learning, time to explore! I found a cave on Google Maps nearby, so we checked it out.
Afterwards we went to Godzilla Rock, so named because of the rock’s striking resemblance to the giant lizard that has repeatedly destroyed Tokyo.
Phew. Now we were hungry. Back at the ryokan we were made the largest meal I think we’ve ever eaten! The food just kept coming and coming!
Part of the meal was the Akita Fishermans’ miso soup. They would heat a special type of stone to 800 degrees Celcius, then drop it into a container of cold miso soup. The miso soup instantly boils and the shrimp and fish in it are all cooked in seconds!
After dinner we saw taiko drummers. Since this is Akita, we saw Namahage taiko drummers take the stage.
That’s a long day! A little dip in the onsen, then it’s time to say “konban wa!” Good night!
We started the day with a hearty, massive Edo-period style Japanese breakfast. I could get used to this!
Our first stop of the day was the Statue of Tatsuko. Tatsuko is the subject of one of the area’s best-known folktales.
According to legend, Tatsuko was a young woman of unsurpassed beauty, who yearned to preserve her good looks and youth for eternity. Every night she prayed to the Okura Kannon, a deity of mercy and compassion. After many nights of prayer, the goddess told her that drinking water from a nearby spring would make her wish come true. Unfortunately for Tatsuko, her great thirst led her to drink until the spring ran dry, and she transformed into a dragon, fated to prowl the lake’s great depths for eternity as its guardian.
The gleaming statue celebrates this legend, and in a way grants Tatsuko’s wish for her youthful beauty to be preserved in perpetuity. It was created by celebrated sculptor and painter Funakoshi Yasutake (1912–2002), and first unveiled on May 12, 1968.
Temple located next to the statue.Here is the statue. The view was breathtaking.
After seeing the statue, we made our way to Dakigaeri Valley, a beautiful gorge with suspension bridges.
A snowball fight may or may not have ensued here…
All that hiking and exploring made us hungry! Time foe an Akita prefecture specialty, the kiritanpo pot. This is basically a hot pot filled with vegetables and a special type of chicken only raised in Akita.
Next up, the Kamakura Museum. Kamakura are igloos made by the locals in Akita prefecture during an annual winter festival. After they are made, children welcome guests inside and provide them rice wine and snacks, and the guests will make offerings to the Gods to pray for water for the year’s crops.
In the museum, we got to go inside an actual kamakura in a room kept at freezing temperature.
Enough learning, time for fun with the Japanese past time of manga! Manga is Japanese comic books, but more expansive and covers many genres rather than just focusing on comedy. It really is a modern-day Japanese art form. At the Manga Museum, they preserve and showcase thousands of manga, and this day, they showcased a manga artist who drew about his travels to over 50 countries.
After a long day of travel, we settled in for the night at our ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) in our yukatas.
The day started with a 3-hour drive to Akita prefecture, which is a large sparsely populated prefecture or state in Japan that has tons of culture, food, and hot springs.
The beauty of the scenery on the drive down reminded us of US national parks. Huge tree and snow-covered mountains were all around.
Our first stop was the Ando Jyozo soy sauce and most brewing factory. This was a small family operation that brewed excellent soy sauce and miso (soybean paste) that they ship around Akita prefecture. Most soy sauce is fermented for approximately 1 year. However, this ferments their soy sauce for up to 5 years, which significantly enhances the flavor. It turns out the soy sauce is pretty simple, and is just made of fermented soybeans, rice, wheat, water, and salt. After we got the factory tour, we got to try their soy sauce and it was soy delicious.
The inside of the shop. There was free soy sauce and miso tasting. Not my picture but shows the room we saw. Those big vats are fermenting soy sauce. After years the thick block is pressed with a giant machine and out comes delicious soy sauce.
The best part of the Ando Jyozo factory was after the tour we got to try soy sauce ice cream and it was surprisingly delicious.
After visiting the soy sauce and miso factory, we proceeded to Kakunodatemachi, a samurai district established in the 1600s. This area was home to numerous samurai families, and their architectural legacy can still be seen today. Here is where we ate lunch fit for a samurai.
For lunch, we were served a regional dish from Akita. On the left is a particular type of udon that is a local specialty of Akita. The udon has thin noodles, making it light and delicious. On the right is what’s called a mother and rice bowl in Japanese that has chicken and egg over rice. The chicken is a special breed only found in Akita and has a distinct flavor.Akita chicken skewers.
While in the samurai village, we came across two great Samurai museums. Here is where Leanne picked out her Samurai gear and started practicing Samurai moves in the middle of the museum. The staff were too afraid to ask her to leave, though.
In the samurai experience we got to try lifting an actual samurai sword.This was a family heirloom Samurai suit of armor.
After fighting off the Mongols and defending the honor of Japan, us two Samurai journeyed to the Tsurunoyu Onsen Ryokan for a well-deserved dinner and rest. This is a famous Japanese style hotel that is modeled from its roots in the Edo-period of Japan. The tatami mat covered room was decorated with an old-fashioned irori fireplace (fireplace within the tatami mat) where we were served a traditional Edo-period style dinner to our room.
This ryokan, or traditional Japanese hotel, looks like it is straight out of an anime fairy tale.This is a kamakura. Remember this word for tomorrow’s post!
So. Much. Food.
After dinner (and about an hour to digest), we went out to the onsen, or hot spring. Onsens are highly regulated and are required to be geothermal heated springs with at least certain amounts of minerals. The onsens in Akita are special because some of them have certain minerals that make it milky white, and others have minerals that make the water change from black to light blue, depending on the weather. It is said that these onsens have healing properties for various diseases, and the different types of onsens heal different maladies, from infertility to diabetes to arthritis. The ryokan we stayed at has onsens of all these types, so we took a dip in all of them just to make sure we got all the benefits!
This year’s winter was mild with relatively little snowfall, resulting in less than ideal skiing conditions. However, I took advantage of a recent snowfall and made the most of the situation.
While I went skiing in Hachimantai, Leanne went on her own hiking adventure nearby.
In other news, Leanne is now 31 weeks! If you have suggestions for boy names, give them now! Seeing the baby move around in the belly is.. weird, but also really cool.
About 2 hours away is Mt. Hakkoda, where “snow monsters” guard the mountain. These are naturally formed by strong wind that blows water droplets onto the trees that freeze. The result are these crazy looking trees.
The friendliest monster on the mountain.Looks like Godzilla! 🐲
One of my bucket list items was to see a concert in Japan, and that has been realized! We went up to Sapporo, the largest city in the northern island Hokkaido, where the Snow Festival was. During this trip, we also went to see Queen, one of Leanne’s favorite bands.
While in Japan, I’ve picked up a new hobby: fishing! My friend Ryota is an expert amateur fisherman and has taught me the ropes. I’ve done what’s called “area trout fishing” here in Japan, which is where there is a fishery that grows the fish and then releases them into a pond in which we can fish in. You would think it might be easier than catching trout from a river, but these trout are used to fisherman and, as such, become little geniuses. They know to avoid most lures since they have fisherman trying to catch them every day. There are also strict rules: you cannot have bait on the lure, certain lures are not allowed, and the hooks on the lures cannot be barbed.
This was my catch, which I later gutted and made into a great Sole Muniere.
My filleting skills still need work!These are the fish eggs.Ryota caught a huge trout!My friend Brent also caught a good size trout!
