I made this a couple months ago on my other blog  and finally got around to posting it XD  Hope you enjoy!

For those using Firefox I’ve noticed there’s an issue with it playing the music.  The music is very soft for the first 5 seconds, then gets louder, if no sound plays after 10-15 seconds (after all the loading of course) I’d suggest just clicking the link below and watching it from Dream Studio.
http://video.sanriotown.com/video/d402d62932b61025

Video clips of the 2008 Aomori Nebuta Festival.

I apologize for the somewhat lengthy pauses between the videos.  If I didn’t include them, half the time the videos skip the first half before it catches up.

Yay! Got my computer’s CD-rom working, the old one had gone bad XD

Almost a month ago now I went to the Aomori Nebuta festival for the second year, this time with a friend too. It was a lot of fun, hot, but fun. ^^ I finally got my new camera so I got a few more good shots this year too.

First off we strolled around the Aspam building and looked at souvenirs and I picked up a cool shirt. From what I gathered from the sales clerk, the design is from a famous Aomori artist. The drawing wraps around the shirt from the front to the back, and I really like the burgundy color.

Next we wandered out back of the Aspam where they house all the floats in tents. This time of year in Aomori it rains fairly often, so this is mostly to keep them dry. We got to watch some singing and dancing, and got to check out more souvenirs. The more popular ones are these strings of bells that you can wear around your neck or some to attach to your cell phone or purse.

Then we headed into the city and wandered around the shopping district. I found this really cute carp bag that I couldn’t resist XD We also picked up some food to eat, me and S (for sake of privacy he shall be known as “S”) got these giant taco (octopus) legs on a stick. They were really good too, they heat them up for you when you order them and brush on a sauce while they’re heating it.

After that we went looking for a spot to chill at during the parade. We ran into some co-workers of mine and ended up staying there. The parade doesn’t start till it gets mostly dark out, but they start setting up a little before it gets dark. Then they shoot off some fireworks when it begins then all the musicians start playing. There were some pretty cool floats with some nifty themes. But it started raining XD a lot… We were partly covered by an overhang but there were some people in front of us who jumped up when it started and moved back to where we were. But the dancers, musicians and floats kept going even in the rain! They looked soaked too XD But the floats were covered in a large sheet of plastic to keep the rain off, and that slightly interfered with the pictures unfortunately. But it was still a blast.

I think it’s great everyone gets a chance to enjoy the festival!

I have no idea XD

It’s not a festival without Totoro!

Yay Tom and Jerry!

It’s not a parade without the Goodyear blimp!

I hope to get pictures I took of the Tanabata festival here in Misawa developed soon. That was about a month and a half ago, but they’re on a disposable camera I’ve had in my car and I haven’t gotten to the shop while they were open yet XD (yay mid shift)

We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties…apparently my computer refuses to see my CD-Rom drive, and insists on calling it a 3.5″ floppy drive XD  No idea, been working on it for a week now, but my new camera says “I must install the software before hooking up the camera to my computer.”  So until I get that sorted out I can’t post any more pictures, and I don’t want to post my writing without the pictures.

But here’s some random stuff in the meantime

www.hakkodapowder.com 

 I found a pretty nifty site all about skiing and snowboarding here in northern Japan.   It’s run by this guy who offers guiding services up in the Hakkoda mountains.  The Hakkoda’s are up here in Aomori Prefecture, and are a pretty big mountain range.  They’re very popular to ski/snowboard at but I’ve been hesitant to try them myself as I’m a very inexperienced boarder.  Last year some time I got to take the ropeway up to the top of the mountain and look around during a tour.  It was a really nice view, and you could see Aomori city and the bay it’s on from the top.  I’ve also seen some tours that do hiking trips through the mountains there, and I’m interested in going on one.  I’m gonna have to keep an eye out for one that’s offered as I really don’t like having to drive all the way there cause it’s 2-3hr drive up and back and then I’d be walking around too so I’d be tired driving back.  While taking a bus tour can be a little annoying, it’s cheap and relaxing for the most part.

Oh, I also found the link to the official Hakkoda Ropeway site: http://www.hakkoda-ropeway.jp/  Now I really want to go hiking there ^^  It looks so pretty.

Oh, the hakkodapowder has a bunch of info on festivals up here in the Aomori prefecture too!  He actually wrote about several I haven’t gone to yet, but I too hope soon.  Not this coming weekend, but the next is a fireworks festival out at Lake Towada, and I’m itching to go.  Lake Towada is K and mine’s favorite place to go for a nice relaxing day.