August 24 and 25 2011

August 24 2011: Well, after 2 days of continuous rain, there was finally a little break. Though still really cloudy, that's no reason not to get out and about. We started our day headed for Towada City. But with a side trip before that. I wanted to check out this Roadside Station that Andi and I had been to briefly during a school field trip. Roadside Stations are rest stops on steroids. This is what a rest stop SHOULD be! A play area for kids. Snack and gift shops. CLEAN bathrooms.

First, I should point out, we aren't in Towada City. This is Shichinohe (She-chee-no-hey) or roughly translated as 7th city. And as I'm writing this, I realize I didn't get any photos of the shops....but I will remedy that later in the week, when I take you to another station.

But I digress (what's new).

Horse statues. Fabulous horse statues, made for children to climb on and burn off energy.

Below: You see Andi demonstrating how her mother usually ends up on a horse. In reality this isn't to far from the truth. Though I don't think I've ever ended up in this position, but many others....and usually with large amounts of un-lady like profanity which would make a sailor blush. (my mother assures me that someday if I have my own horse this might all change. sure, if my motorcycle is named "horse" this might happen.....maybe that's what I should name my bicycle...)

Mom next to a bridge over the water way. Which, didn't really have any water in it. But still made it look like Andi's horse was crashing up over the river bank.

Now, just so you know, we weren't the only ones taking pictures like we've never seen fake horses before.....

Above: A close up of the bridge.

Below: We continue our journey. I had been attempting to find this special flower park. At certain times of the year there are Iris's and Azalea's and all sorts of flowers in bloom. But of course, we are one week to late. I'm proud to report that we did find it. Just no pictures as it was closed and we couldn't even get into the grounds.

Instead you'll have to be content with this shot of a rice paddy in the foreground and sweet potatoes/yams in the background. (the sweet potatoes do grow underground, but they put the vines from them up on fencing...I don't know if it is done this way in the states, I have never paid attention)

Well, since the flower thing was nixed we went up to Kommako Land (the horse park) one of Andi's favorite destinations.
Took Mom through the museum, which she hadn't done before. We've been through here before, so just a couple of pictures this time around. (though I could hear the click of the camera every 2 feet as Mom went along)

One of the benches outside was a friend to watch the clouds roll by.

We ate lunch at the little restaurant there. There were no English signs posted, so figuring out what we were getting was tricky. Usually you put your money in a vending machine, push a button at the menu choice and a ticket pops out. You give the ticket to the cook and they cook it up. Through my limited language skills I managed to convey a wish for rice and ramen. (after 2 and a half years, I should be able to do that much!)
Garbage cans at parks are very limited. Usually the eateries will have them to dispose of your food and drinks. The far can is for glass and cans. The middle for plastic bottles.....and the last, well, can you figure it out????
Remember, we don't say our "R"s much here. It's "everything that burns".

August 25 2011:

Yup, still raining. Andi thought we should go to "Children's Land" which is also known as the Hachinohe Botanical Gardens. Along the way, thought I'd get a shot of the "Big Boy" sign. Yes, I was driving, and yes we were at a stop light....
Upon arriving it was lunch time again. (my I ate out a lot this last week) Once again, the vending machine. This time the cook didn't speak my dialect of basic Japanese. So it was vending machine roulette. Didn't do to bad. Mom ended up with a bowl of ramen with thick noodles. I ended up with ramen with wheat noodles. Not to bad. Though ramen has a LOT of sodium in it. I think I drank a gallon of water afterwards. Andi's doll joined us for lunch.
Andi's favorite ride a the park is the swings. I think she went on it 5 or 6 times.
(remember you can left click on a picture to get a closer look at the expressions!)

Just to mention as Andi does this she is usually singing "I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky!" Love that song, love watching Andi believe in herself!
There's is a new section to the children's side. An indoor play area. Andi was having a great time. Til she realized that a Japanese boy (about 4 years old, I couldn't get a good picture of him) was following her everywhere. Actually he and his siblings/playmates all took a shine to Andi. Andi on the other hand is still really self conscious around Japanese children. She can't get over the language barrier aspect. But they tried to play with her.
Above: Silent contemplations.

Below: The obligatory artsy plant picture.
Now, don't worry, as I write this (on Monday morning) we did get out plenty this weekend. Today though is a rest and recovery day. Also, chore day around the house. So there'll be another mid week update while I try to keep us up on all the happenings.

End of Summer part 2

August 21 2011: Arrival day and festival day! Mom arrived in time for the big float parade here in Misawa. Well, even early, time to go from the airport, shower, change, rest and then parade. She partook if "what's that?" mystery buying of festival food. (she did ask that her face not be shown due to fatigue....) Anyway, mystery of the day...aebleskiver type concoction stuffed with chopped up octopus. For those who don't know what an aebleskiver is: it's a Norwegian (or Scandinavian) type of batter sort of like pancakes, cooked in a special pan that has round pockets in which to put the batter. For the most part they are round. Sometimes, especially here in Japan, you can find them shaped like fish as well. Anyway, as a child they were a fun treat for breakfast, and really fun treat for the ever special "breakfast for dinner" meals. Though my parents never put in chopped up octopus, at most we might find a peach slice.
There was (as at all festivals) the delicious array of foods and smells. Above was a candy maker doing candies apples and blueberries. Yes, those are blueberries on top of those apples! They were huge this year!

Without fail, Andi can be found at an ice cream vendor. I think I have mentioned it's not really ice cream that we think of. It's more like an Italian ice type thing, but creamer than that. Not ice milk either. Whatever it is, it's good!
One of the many ice cream vendors pulling her cart. Now there's a way to supplement your retirement!
Above: The alcohol specialty store. (though you can buy beer, wine and Saki in any Japanese grocery store or "conbini") I just really like the window decorations for this store.

The start of the parade. Well, we could finally see the start of the parade. They'd already been marching for a bit by the time they got to us.
Above: Some of the spectators. Modesty wasn't really on everyone's mind!
The parade is generally made up of gigantic floats. Though there is some presentation of what I don't know....
The floats are mostly hand pulled by rope. The floats come mostly from Misawa. But lets do a little information bit. While the city proper is known as Misawa, the city is actually made up of many little communities that we would probably think of as villages. Some of the villages have sub villages within. So each little community area makes up a float, and members of that community are who pull it. Each village or sub village has like a village elder, or mayor type person who organizes the community efforts.

Above: The floats are tall! REALLY TALL! Notice that it is taller than the buildings. But, there are traffic signals coming up that hang out over the street. What to do, what to do....

Well, we were at a stopping point. They stop, and their on board motors kick in. The float is mechanized. The top pieces fold down and/or slide down a track system and collapse to just the precise height to sneak under the traffic lights. Once cleared, they can put them right back up again. I should mention that the motors do help a tad in getting the floats up inclines and such....but for the most part are hand pulled.
A traditional summer outfit for the guys in a parade.
Above: Some of the floats are wide as well. When they come to a turn, the edge pieces move inward to narrow out the float. Those who are riding the float are fine where they are. Everything is designed to just fold in around the folks on the float.
Above: One of the floats that have had their top piece collapsed to get under the traffic signal.
I didn't get the peak of height for this one. The float before it had gotten a little stuck in the lowering process. So this one was already down when it came to us. But even with the float collapsed, there is still a lot of detail.
By the time the parade got to us, most of the adult pullers were pretty well sauced. There was even a "beer runner" for some of the floats to bring out some fresh drinks as they went by.
The last float of the day. Each float has a different theme. There is really no rhyme or reason to the themes. Just whatever the community agreed to. Some might center around a Shrine, if the Shrine plays a big part in their area. This one seemed dedicated to frogs. Well....there are a lot of frogs in the rice paddies!

So that was last weekend. This week has been rather rainy and put a little damper on some of the sight seeing. But don't worry we got out. Hopefully this weekend we can get out as well. Let me rephrase that. We WILL get out! Just not sure if the sun will be out or not, but it's all good!

August 20 2011 End of Summer (part 1)

August 20 2011 - We rode our bikes (no that doesn't mean the type with motors on them that say "Harley Davidson"....ours are pedal powered and have Canadian logos....that's a whole other story....go to Japan to buy Canadian bikes) anyway, rode our bikes up to the city center, to see what is happening for the day. We went with no agenda, and were pleasantly surprised to be there right at the start of the costume parade.
A couple of marching bands started things off right. I think more bands joined in later in the parade as this is a very long route they have. (the parade loops around and ends where it began and I saw groups that weren't in at the start....I think they join midway through. this way if it's to hot some groups can drop out without the parade become all straggly)
Oh, did I mention today's parade is the costume parade? It has nothing to do with Halloween, just costume for reasons I don't know. The children seemed to be primarily Indian and middle eastern themed and a few others.
I think the above group was playing "It's a Small World", so outfits of everywhere.

Below: I think the poor boys head was to heavy on this day......

This fellow was walking behind about 6 women. I assuming they must've been the harem, and he the lord and master....either way, I'd hate to walk a mile in their shoes!

Now, the guys seem to have a great time with dressing up. Keep in mind they also drink a bit before and during the parades....but it makes for a good show! I love his pasties (above)
A major theme running through the parade was Lady Gaga and "Born This Way".

And then there would be this nice sedate group in between acts....

then, back to the madness.....I'm still have difficulties loading my videos....I'm hoping to get the video of these guys loaded at some point. They did a traditional recital of their moves, then broke into routine choreographed to Lady Gaga....it is hilarious...wish you could see it!

Darth Vadar really likes to pose for the cameras!

No, that's not a costume, that really is a police man.

And of course, parades mean food! The smells are just delicious. No, that sign up there doesn't mean you are eating your Pet....it's the bottle maker for the bottled waters that they sell. We just thought it looked a little funny next to everything else you could eat.

Fried stuff....well, this one we can identify, octopus. We didn't have any of this today, but we did get a surprise on Sunday! (that'll be coming later this week)

Making fresh candies. Of course Andi wanted to stop here, but it looked really sticky...

And below, who knows what all is in pile. The egg on top is a common thing here, plus some cabbage and whatever else. Nope, didn't have this one either. Sigh, you must think we are really unadventurous, but what you can't see is our armload of foods we did buy. Why I didn't take a picture of that, I'll never know....
There'll be another posting this week, as we went to Sunday's parade as well. Plus mom is here now for her visit, so that means some additional outings.

I'm still grumbling about the Yen rate, so they will be carefully budgeted outings!

And yes, I'll work on the videos and keep you posted as to when I figure it out....grrr.