Golden Week and Tsugaru Adventures

Aah, Golden Week. This famous week that I've been hearing and thinking about since I arrived last summer. Golden Week is made up of four national holidays (Showa Day, Constitution Memorial Day, Greenery Day, and Children's Day) that have been lumped together and deemed as a national spring break; most people travel around the country, and most of those who travel do ohanami, or flower viewing. You may be thinking, "Flower viewing? Really"? And I would answer, "Yes. Totally".

Budding trees!

Before I get into this, I should let you know that Japan, Aomori in particular, has an unnaturally long winter (in my opinion). I guess this is an instinctive reaction from a girl who was born and raised in the sunny and weather-neutral state of California, but I think anyone who isn't a polar bear would agree with me. Anyway, place of residence here in Japan had been covered in snow and ice for so long, I nearly forgot what it was like to have greenery surround me. When the trees and plants around me finally started to bud, I got so excited I took a picture of it.

So my belief, and for those of you reading who have lived through several seasons of a real winter can either agree or disagree with me, is that the Japanese people get hyped up with flower viewing because they've bared this crazy winter. I get it now. But they take this excitement to a whole new level when it comes to sakura, the cherry blossom. Sakura is considered the most beautiful flower in all of Japan, and I'm not exactly sure when this all started, but there has been a developing obsession over this little flower for centuries.

Here's the catch: sakura are only in bloom for a week or so, and then the petals are blown away. It just so happens that its shockingly short life span occurs right around Golden Week, which is convenient for all those obsessed with it (aka: everyone). Poor flower. So much pressure to impress and so little time.

My first sakura sighting

Well, impress it does! Now, keep in mind that I just experienced the longest and coldest winter of my life, but when I caught my first glimpse of sakura while walking down the streets of Sannohe, I cried out with glee and might have even jumped up and down for joy. I can't remember. I was too excited to see an actual flower.

Sannohe Castle

Sakura

The three ohimesama of Nanbu

So after a preview of what a sakura matsuri (festival) is like while in Sannohe, I headed out to Hirosaki, the most famous sakura viewing spot in the country, with a few nihonjin friends and Joel. The plan was to drive to Aomori city and then take a train to Hirosaki to avoid all the traffic. Well, we missed our train by two minutes and ended up driving the entire way, but it was totally worth the stop because we had some awesome parfait at this little cafe in the city. Mine was very patriotic...American flag and all :)

We had two concerns as we drove over to the other side of the ken, and those were: a) that the blossoms wouldn't be in full bloom (it was still pretty early); b) the crowds would be overwhelming. Well, thanks to some wet weather, the crowds were significantly less as we made our way into Hirosaki and walked around the castle area. The overall scene was breathtakingly beautiful in spite of the rain. I don't think my photos were able to completely capture the beauty of what was before me. Nothing would be able to do it justice.

The light pitter patter of the rain drowned out the little white noise that the small crowds were creating throughout the park and it was almost like having it all to ourselves. We walked for a long while without talking, just taking our pictures and really enjoying it. Of course, my remind repeatedly went to the same thought: I wish Patrick was here with me (it's been over three months...can't blame me). It was hard not to wish to share this with someone else. But I had some wonderful friends to share it with :)

Hirosaki Castle

Without the rain, seeing the sakura
reflect itself in the water is beautiful

As we made our way down a path deemed the sakura no tonnelu (cherry blossom tunnel), we heard the soothing voice of Frank Sinatra drifting towards us. As we got closer, we discovered that the music was coming from a makeshift tea house that sat right on the water. Since the rain was coming down harder as the afternoon wore on, we decided to duck in and watch the dusk take over the sky while sipping on a variety of teas and listening to Sinatra and friends.

Light shining on sakura as dusk fell

Enjoying our tea

By the time we were finished up with our tea, it was time for yozakura, or night viewing. Paper lanterns (like the one pictured above) are hung around the park for yozakura along with spotlights that have been particularly placed throughout to highlight the flowers. Just when I thought the scene couldn't get any more spectacular, Japan bested me! Well done, Japan.

The castle at night

Soon it was time for my nihonjin buddies to head back to Takko, while I met up with Ululani for our second leg of the trip...adventures in Tsugaru! And what adventures they were indeed.

About three weeks ago, I had completed writing this blog and was ready to post it. However, blogger.com had different plans for me and deleted half of it. Wonderful. In the interest of time and my sanity, I'm going to consolidate the rest of this post into bullet points along with some pictures.


The following pretty much sums up the crazy four days we spent in Tsugaru.

*BBQ in Hirosaki and ate real Tillamook cheese...it is truly the little things.


*Got mooned by a tattooed Japanese man as he proclaimed, "I AM JAPAN"!


*Drove for 45 minutes in the wrong direction on our way to Morita...at 10pm. Not my fault ;)


*Spent some time with the oldest apple tree in Japan.


*Made up for missing the Neputa Festival last fall by visiting the museum. Highly recommended.


*Had coffee at the ONLY Starbuck's in Aomori prefecture. The ONLY one. (And bought the exclusive Tsugaru/Aomori mug. Jealous, much?)


*Made friends with Wasao, the most famous dog in Japan...although we didn't so much make friends with him as much as he just ignored us. He was kind of grumpy.


*Drove up the coast to observe the geographical changes to the Sea of Japan due to the earthquake (Japan moved eight feet).


*Discovered the magical land of magic (aka: seemingly undiscovered orchard of sakura).


*Shrine par cor.


*Participated in some awe-inspiring karaoke.


*Ate more maguro than is humanly possible. Ass-a-moo-shi knows how to serve up some tuna!

*Visited the Jomon excavation site...really put into perspective how old this place is. For. Reals.


*Fell asleep driving around Aomori. I iz tired.


*Revisited Hirosaki Castle to view the sakura at desk and for yozakura (this time, sans rain...yay!).

*Grabbed a delish dinner at the convenny. Suuccceeessss.


*Watched an unhealthy amount of Murder, She Wrote, and thus was introduced to Michael's idolization of Angela Lansbury.

---

And here is where the real fun begins. This puts us at Wednesday. Our plan was to rise, grab an early lunch at the samurai noodle shop in town, and then bust on over to the Nanbu side. We woke up to internal alarm clocks and began to pack the car when...*GASP* Ulu could not find her car key! We searched high and low for it, but it soon became obvious that the key was nowhere to be found at the house. Thus began our adventure across the great lands of Tsugaru (written, once again, in bullet points for your convenience).

*Ulu can't find her keys.
*We head to the convenny (visited the night prior) to look for the keys (they weren't there).
*Ulu and Michael call every place listed in the above bullet points (no luck).
*Ulu decides it can only be in one place: Hirosaki.
*Begin our trek back to the Castle (Jessica's third visit this week).
*Thunder and lightening storm commences.
*Arrive in Hirosaki.
*Find the ice cream cart from our visit the day before and inquire about the key.
*Ice Cream Cart Lady has found the key! But gave it to a volunteer just 30 minutes before we got there.
*We head to the honbun (park headquarters) for lost and found (15 minute walk).
*We get lost on our way to the honbun.
*...we find the honbun!
*Lost and found at the honbun claims they do not have a lost key. After five minutes of us insisting it had to be there, we turn away...rejected.
*We return to Ice Cream Cart Lady to report our sad tale.
*She calls the honbun herself and gives her account of the Lost Key.
*It is discovered that the volunteer had returned the key to a DIFFERENT honbun (makes sense, right?).
*We are instructed to return to the original honbun and the volunteer will meet us there (another 15 minute walk).
*Ulu and the Lost Key are reunited! Oh joyous day! (Ice Cream Cart Lady is rewarded by us buying three ice creams)

But wait, it gets better!


*We return to Michael's abode where Ulu's car is located.
*Pack Ulu's car with our luggage.
*Michael starts his car.
*Ulu attempts to start her car and...nothing.
*Michael and Ulu hook the cables up to their cars to jump start it (but not without looking up the online instructions).
*Ulu's car has successfully been jump started!

But wait...it gets even better!

*We make a pit stop at the samurai noodle shop for lunch before beginning our journey back to Nanbu Land.
*After lunch, Ulu and Jessica say their good byes to Michael.
*Ulu attempts to start her car and...the prior issue rears its ugly head once again.
*Another go at the jump start.
*Car starts...but dies during test run in the parking lot. Uh oh.
*Several calls are made to JAF (Japan's version of AAA), Ulu's rental shop and two translators.
*Two hours, one visit from JAF and $100 later, we find out that the car will be towed back to Nanbu in the morning.
*Jessica is empty...sad.

And wait...it gets even better still!

*We drive back to Michael's house to devise a plan for the evening.
*In the middle of making evening plans, Ulu says something funny.
*Jessica smacks her head on the wall behind her in a fit of laughter.
*Jessica cries.
*Michael doesn't know what to do with us anymore, so he brings us back to the mall and Starbuck's.
*Ulu realizes she has lost her ATM card when she attempts to take out money.
*Everyone drowns their sorrows in Starbuck's, McDonald's and general retail therapy.
*We return to Michael's for more Murder, She Wrote.

The next morning we met the tow truck driver in the parking lot of the samurai noodle shop where we left Ulu's car the day before. Ulu, Truck Driver and I piled in the front seat and headed back to Nanbu, and Ulu and I had never been so grateful to return home. During the long drive, we amused ourselves by watching Stardust on Ulu's iPad and more than likely annoyed the driver till no end with our fits of laughter.

Our mantra throughout this entire debacle was that we wouldn't let it ruin our trip...and we didn't! It was a frustratingly amusing way to end it all. Tai hen desuyone, kedo shouganai! (It was all too much, but it couldn't be helped!)

------

This entire update is way overdue, so let me update you all on what has been happening more recently...

In recent news... My trip to Georgia came and went! I know you're all dying to hear how it went, but since that trip is totally and completely unrelated to Japan life, you'll have to get it out of me in person. Or go check facebook for the pictures. In short, it was an incredible visit and I'm so glad to have him "back"...the quotations suggesting that although he isn't physically here with me, we're once again tethered to our phones and are free to chat and talk whenever we please.

Coming up... I'm officially eight days into my last month of work here in Japan. I'll be handing over the reigns and keys to my apartment come June 30th. But before that, the high school group from Gilroy will be here! So along with packing (hah, like I've started...), cleaning (..or that), and arranging my affairs (let's be real), I'm also in the finishing stages of planning this trip (this I have spent some significant time on).

Also, remember that little trip that was canceled because of some huge earthquake? Well, it's FINALLY back on! Julia, now along with Nana, will be making their visit come July! We'll be spending their first few days here in Takko, and then off to Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. It shall be grand.

As you can see, I have quite a bit of stuff going on over here until I leave. I may not be updating before I leave, but I am determined to wrap up this blog in a befitting way. Thank you for reading so far!

Mata ne!