Monthly Archives: September 2011

At least, no rain this day.  Northern Japan, so close to the ocean, gets a considerable amount of precipitation, though, and it is overcast most of the time, with the clouds often hanging very low.  Kinda sorta like the Seattle … Continue reading →

At the conclusion of the mikoshi part of the parade, I was free to roam and take photographs.  Here are some of the larger floats. Misawa City Festival wheeled float Note that none of these floats are powered by internal … Continue reading →

 This very, very nice lady was my housekeeper in Japan.  She also kept house for some of my coworkers, and for only about $30, she scrubbed everything, shined shoes, stacked papers, vacuumed, and sometimes even cooked up a little miso … Continue reading →

Check out the top of this float.  After examining it, you might believe it to be too heavy to be carried on shoulders, right? Mikoshi, or unfinished residence? Making the mikoshi as heavy as possible seemed to be part of … Continue reading →

… Let’s call the whole thing off … or not.  Here are a few examples of the mikoshi, or portable shrines, that appeared in the 1988 Misawa City Festival Parade (Misawa-shi Matsuri). Lots more parade photos to come — we’re … Continue reading →

The morning of the city festival, I took several photos from the top of the Park Hotel.  This one is looking almost due north. The food booths went on forever.  The one on the right was selling fried potatoes, but … Continue reading →

One of my first road trips from Misawa City was to see the scenic Oirase River and Lake Towada.  Lake Towada is the largest volcanic crater lake on the main Japanese island of Honshu.  The Oirase River is the only … Continue reading →

I don’t remember what model year this car was, but it had a manual shift and a powered sunroof.  Now, if you think driving on the left side of the road would be a challenge, you should try shifting with … Continue reading →

And welcome to Misawa train station.   But a lot of water flowed under the bridge before I could arrive at this destination.  First, when your plane lands at Narita International Airport in Tokyo (and go business class, if at all … Continue reading →