Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival 2010

Sakura (cherry blossom)

another cherry blossom

"Weeping" Cherry Blossoms (but not fully bloomed yet)

Hirosaki Castle view (see the cherry blossoms were not fully bloomed), young teenagers were playing cards along the side of the road ;-)

------------------------------------------------------

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival (April 23 to May 5, 2010)

These photos were taken last April 24, 2010 when we went to Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival. We signed up for the ITT (Information, Tickets and Travel) Trip on base for this festival 2 months prior this date just to get seats (and so as not to drive up there). Usually this trip is sold out fast, so I bought the tickets during the first day of sale and we got on the 3rd bus already. Unfortunately we didn't know what would be the weather this day......the cherry blossoms were not fully bloomed yet. This year the spring is so late and same with the cherry blossoms. Last year, we went to Hirosaki same week as this date (last week of April) and the cherry blossoms were everywhere, pretty nice. You really can't predict the weather.

Luckily, I found 2 (out of 2,600) cherry blossoms tree which were "quite" bloomed so I took the pictures (first and second photos)....at least I saw some ;-)

The festival for this year started April 23 and ends May 5.

If you want to see my last year's photos in Hirosaki Festival, just click this.... "click" . It would be the same view anyway but different year hehehe.

I will post more pictures when I have time.

Wait...I wasn't joking when I said I found 2 trees.....here's the photo.

Hirosaki Snow Lantern Festival

Building snow sculpture

Another view of the building snow sculpture

Animal Snow Sculptures

Not sure if this is Mickey Mouse (??)

I don't know the name of this snow sculpture, maybe Mama and baby bear (???) hehehe, this sculpture is big it's like a stage size

Different lanterns and overlooking Hirosaki Castle

Visitors are getting the candles once you enter this area and putting them anywhere they want to

&*^%$100 #@ ! (whatever that is hehehe)

Hello Kitty (has mumps LOL)

This Japanese farmer snow sculpture is taller than me

Snow lanterns

My son was inside the small igloo ;-)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Hirosaki Snow Lantern Festival

This snow lantern festival was held from February 11 to February 14, 2010. We went last Saturday, Feb 13. This festival began in 1977 is now one of the five biggest snow festivals in Tohoku region (Northern Japan).

The snow lanterns have different sizes and shapes. There are some with pictures of samurai warriors and some come on different odd shapes like the heart and star shaped snow scultures.

Happy Heart's Day

-------------------------------------------------

We went to Hirosaki Castle Park yesterday to see the Lantern Festival, it was awesome!!! Amazing ice sculptures. The weather was nice but of course it was too cold and a bit slippery along the walkway but over all.....I enjoyed it very much!

Since today is Valentine's Day (although I posted this a bit late already) I uploaded the heart shaped snow sculpture.

I will post more photos tomorrow.

Making Of Soba Noodles

The following pictures say it all on how to make soba noodles. These were taken during the Salmon Festival in Rokkasho Town. We have to wait for this Japanese guy to finish making soba noodles without saying anything. I will do the same thing.....enjoy browsing the photos!






















Finally he smiled :-)

I should have brought my video camera rather than taking pictures of each steps hehehe, sorry I forgot to bring it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



According from Wikipedia:
Soba is a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. It is served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup. Moreover, it is common in Japan to refer to any thin noodle as soba in contrast to udon which are thick noodles made from wheat. It takes three months for buckwheat to be ready for harvest, so people can harvest it four times in a year; it is harvested mainly in spring, summer, and autumn. In Japan, buckwheat is produced mainly in Hokkaido. People call soba that is made with buckwheat that has just been harvested "shin-soba". It has more sweetness and taste than soba.

In Japan, soba noodles are served in a variety of situations. They are a popular inexpensive fast food at train stations throughout Japan and are served by exclusive and expensive specialty restaurants. Markets sell dried noodles and men-tsuyu, or instant noodle broth, to make home preparation easy.

Hirosaki Chrysanthemum Festival

Can you guess the design?

Can you read? I've been staring this photo for 2 weeks but until now I can't read it

cute barrel

pagoda made of chrysanthemum

I guess they are chrysanthemum flowers ;-)

Hey, what's your name?? Are you chrysanthemum too?

Finally I was able to take a picture of a bee still on a flower

Apple made of apples

Close-up look

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hirosaki Chrysanthemum Festival- Nov. 7, 2009- this is the continuation of my post last week. Every year Hirosaki Castle Park holds Chrysanthemum Festival during fall season, from mid October to early week of November.

They have this festival to celebrate the nature and beauty of the fall. There are thousands of maple and cherry trees have its color of leaves turned into red and yellow in this period of season.