Visiting Northern Japan (Tohoku)

Obon is a national holiday in Japan. It has Buddhist roots, and the purpose is to celebrate and honor one's ancestors. The observed holidays this year were Friday August 13th, and Monday, August 16th. We extended our vacation and took off of work from the 13th-22nd. For our vacation, we went on a road trip with our friends Anna and Matthew. We left for our road trip on August 13th, and drove home on Saturday, August 21st, so that we could have a day of recovery on the 22nd.

For our road trip, we went to the northernmost part of the main island; the area is called Tohoku. We did a lot of driving on

the first day, but we did make a stop at a beautifully decorated rice field in Gyoda city in Saitama prefecture. This rice field has been producing beautiful works of art since 2008. In 2015, they even took the Guinness World Record for creating the world’s largest rice field artwork! The artwork produced this year included ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ as well as a traditional Kabuki performer, like the ones seem in the opening ceremony for the Olympics. As this field is close to Tokyo, they were hoping to draw in lots of tourists. However, with high number of covid cases, and a lack of spectators at the Olympics, the turnout was not as high as they were hoping. Either way- we enjoyed the beautiful display of artwork! To view the field, we went up a 50-meter tower. While the rice may appear to be cut into the field, it is actually a mixture of 4 different kinds of rice that are planted in the field.

The following day we visited Oya Cave in Utsunomiya, Tochigi. It is an enormous 200,000 square meter, man-made cave. It was formed beginning in the 17th century, as it was mined for its Oya Stone, which is a soft, volcanic stone that is found in the area. During WWII, it was used to manufacture airplanes underground, as the planes could be made securely and avoid bombing. Today, it is used for concert venues, weddings, and even movies! Additionally, part of the cave is used as a refrigeration unit to many foods and drinks. The cave literally looked like an underground city, and we only got to see part of the cave!

After visiting Oya Cave, we drove to Nikko and went to Kegon Falls. It is the most well-known and most visited waterfall in Nikko National Park. It has also been voted one of the top 3 waterfalls in Japan. It stands at just about 100 meters, and you go down an elevator to get an up-close, beautiful view point. Sadly, we ended up going on a rainy day, and we didn’t get to see much of the waterfall.

After that we visited Ouchi-juku, a traditional ‘town’ that dates to the Edo period. Town is in quotations because it is really only one long street, rather than a full-sized town. This was an important area

that connected the trade route from Aizu and Nikko. Today, you can see the traditional houses and building with the beautiful, thick thatched rooves. We climbed up some stairs to a shrine and had some beautiful views!

The following day we went to visit the Goshikinuma Ponds in Fukushima. This consists of 5 ponds, all with their own unique color, and the colors can change slightly daily! These ponds sit at the foot of Mount Bandai, and they were formed when it erupted in 1887. The lakes trapped some sediments during the volcano eruption, and this is what gives the lakes their color. We were short on time, so we did not get to visit all of the lakes. Instead, we ended up visiting three lakes, including a green lake. However, we were most impressed by the turquoise color of the first lake that we visited!

After the lakes, we made our way over to Miyagi Zao Fox Village located in Miyagi Prefecture, outside of the city of Sendai. Some websites refer to it as a “fox sanctuary,” but in our opinion, it is more like a fox zoo. Here, you can find over 100 free-roaming foxes, six different breeds total. It is recommended to come in winter, as there usually is snow, and it is very picturesque.

Here is our honest opinion about Fox Village. Over the years, it has spread through word of mouth, and it has become a popular tourist destination. When we went, it was quite empty, but it is still evident that it is normally crowded by some of the non-logical policies that staff enforce unnecessarily when it is empty. For example, Tori was told she could not stray even the slightest bit from a line she was in to hold a fox, even though nobody was behind her, and her turn to hold the fox was not approaching anytime soon. She was also repeatedly rushed to put her telephone in a bin next to her while waiting to hold a fox, even though she was the last in line and would not be holding the fox for over five minutes. The staff member who put the fox in Tori’s lap was also quite rough while handling the fox, which was upsetting to Tori.

Aside from paying a small fee (about $6USD) to hold a fox, most foxes in the village are free roaming. However, there are quite a few of them, and in our opinion, the space felt overcrowded. There is a small, enclosed building with an elevated platform that you can enter to feed the foxes (by paying a small fee for the food). This, however, leads to a lot of aggressive spats between foxes, as they fight over food. Some of the foxes looks malnourished and had fur that was also quite matted.

All in all, the foxes were still adorable, and it was a unique experience. We were happy to do it once but would not go back again.

We spent the evening in Sendai. It took us a while to find a vegetarian friendly restaurant, but once we found one, we ended up having tons of fun at that restaurant! We also got to experient with "hoppy" at the restaurant. Hoppy is popular in northern parts of Japan. It is a beer-flavored soda that is non-alcoholic. Basically, you pour hard liquor, usually Shochu (Japanese liquor made from rice, barely, and sweet potatoes) into a frozen mug, and then add in the hoppy. It ends up looking just like beer, but it usually is not as strong, and not as many calories. It is not something that we would drink regularly, but it was fun to try.

While we were not in Sendai long, we enjoyed strolling around the city. It had a fun vibe!

The next day we did a lot of driving. We did get to stop at a beautiful sun flower field, which made for some beautiful pictures. We also stopped at a Naruko gorge, and went for a little nature walk around that area (not pictured). After that, we drove over to Hachinohe, where we spent the night. In the evening, we walked along a narrow street with tiny little izakayas. We stopped in there for some food and drinks. It was a unique spot, and we were happy to check it out (also not pictured).

The following morning we went to Hachinohe Sake Brewery. It was pretty interesting. We learned that you see a giant ball of Japanese cedar hanging outside of each sake brewery. You can determine by the color of the cedar approximately how old the sake is. For example, if it is a vibrant green, sake was brewed recently. However, if the cedar is old and brown, the sake has been brewed a long time ago. We were also walked through the brewing process, and of course, we sampled some delicious sake. Special thanks to Anna who was our designated driver. The brewery

also had a unique sake that is made the way champagne is made. We did not get to sample that, but we picked a bottle up for this upcoming New Year!

After the sake brewery, we were off and on our way to Aomori which is a city and a prefecture (state). In Aomori City we went to the Nebuta Museum. We really did not know what to expect by visiting the museum, and let us tell you, this place blew our mind! It is on the top of our list of the most amazing places / things we have done in Japan. It was THAT level of amazing.

A little bit of background—every year in early August the city of Aomori has a Nebuta festival, which includes a parade. They are not quite certain where the festival and parade originated from, but Nebuta is first referenced all the way back in the 1600’s! You can see black and white photos on the wall of the parade all the way back from the early 1900's. Some people speculate that the tradition was started based on a “demon” who would make famers tired while working mid-day, and a festival was created to ward off the demon.

A total of 22 enormous floats are made for the parade each year. They are made from wire, wood, and washi paper. The floats are illuminated with lights inside. The design and detail of each float is absolutely jaw-dropping. You are literally “wowed” when you look at them! Many of the floats are based on traditional Japanese folklore, giving them meaning. We just do not happen to know a lot of the folklore, but regardless, we were still blown away by the floats! The museum houses four, full-sized floats from each year’s most recent festival. The festival was not held the past two years due to covid, so we saw floats from the 2019 festival.

The following day, August 18th (our three year wedding anniversary) we started our day off by going to Tsutanuma Lake. If you Google this lake, you will see some gorgeous photos with trees reflecting off of the water. Unfortunately, it was a bit overcast when we went, but it was still beautiful! Our photo from this lake is the photo where Matthew (the bug whisperer) has a dragon fly in his hand.

We also got to check out Lake Towada and the Oirase Gorge. At the Gorge there were tons and tons of beautiful water falls. We've included pictures from both the Lake and the Gorge. Oh, and while driving by we saw a sign on the road which said, "The Grave of Christ." Sadly, we did not get to check out the 'grave'. We had heard this story before, and it is quite funny and interesting. In the 1930's the village head was interested in turning the area into a national park, when he coincidentally stumbled upon the grave of Jesus in the area. Naturally, most locals do not believe this tale, but there are, however, religious ceremonies conducted around the grave throughout the year. According to the tale, Jesus came to Japan at the age of 21, and left at the age of 33. Before he was crucified, he traded places with his 'brother' and was able to escape death. Jesus then returned to Japan and later died in this area. Needless to say, it was super fun to stop and take a photo with this sign!