Our first stop was to see Showa Daitbutsu or better known as the Great Buddha at Seiryu-Ji Temple. This was a large complex with an incredible Buddhist temple where you could walk around - with your shoes off of course. Many gongs around the area that people were ringing. I felt that would be disrespectful. Also saw some Zelda lanterns and something illusive: a trash can!! Those are not very common in Japan - yet the cities are remarkably clean. And of course, the star attraction, the Great Buddha himself!! He stands over 21 meters tall!!
It was then time to head to our included lunch. Our guide said we'd have a Western style lunch and there would be salad and roasted chicken. Didn't sound like we'd be experiencing any of the local cuisine. I had low expectations.
We showed up to the most amazing wedding reception venue. Just beautiful inside. And they had banquet tables set up just like an actual wedding reception.
We had a soup and salad course. The soup was so tasty. It was glutinous rice with barley and pea. So creamy and flavorful. And the salad course was more than just salad. There was a somewhat traditional green salad. But there was also a scallop, a salmon roll and what I think was a boiled turnip with some creme fraiche. The scallops from this area are very famous.
The main course was roasted pork with minced local apples, fish and "chips" (really french fried julienned potato) and a chicken thigh with a great marinara. The local apple is the Fuji apple so it was fun to try it.
The dessert was inspired by the cherry blossoms. It included a cherry blossom preserved in salt.
All so satisfying. And unexpected. Absolutely the best included excursion lunch I have ever had.
Our next stop was to Sannai-Maruyama Special Historical Site. This is where the ruins of a very large Jomon settlement were found. They were planning on building a baseball stadium in 1992. And when they started digging they unearthed the settlement. Burial mounds, pillars and underground structures. All very interesting to walk into and through. They kept two of the original dig sites preserved. This is 5,000 year old dirt with pottery remanents in it.
These were the original holes for large pillars.
After the ruins, we headed to Aomori Prefecture Tourist Information Center better known as ASPAM. We started with a couple of movies. The first was all about winter in Aomori. The next was a fascinating short 3D film about the Nebuta Festival. All these amazing lighted floats, dancing and music. We'd be learning more about that at our final stop. Before we did that, it was time to try a local beer. The beer in Japan has all been exceptional and this was as well.
I also got a vending machine treat: strawberry ice cream cone.
Our last stop was a museum dedicated to the Nebuta Festival. I had not heard about this festival before. And I had only seen the short film at ASPAM. The festival is held every August 1st for seven days. It's origin has many different theories. One is that it was done to bring prosperity to the farmers. Many other theories exist. It goes back in some form as far back as the year 710 when lanterns made from bamboo and paper were used. The more modern use of floats is thought to have started in the early 1800's when Kabuki theater was popular and those characters were depicted on floats. The creation of the float frames was originally bamboo but eventually moved to wire due to concerns for fire safety. The process to make them is fascinating. It is wood, wire, special Japanese paper, LED lighting and paints. What the artists are able to create from modest materials is more than impressive!! Seven and a half hours after we left the port, we were back on the ship. Rested a little in the cabin and now heading to get dinner.
Tomorrow we will have our last port of call in Hakodate where we have another (shorter) ship excursion. Then a final away say and back to Yokohama on Monday.
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