Snow Festival at Towadako, Aomori/Akita

To finish off the winter season, we decided to go and suss out a snow festival that had taken place on the border of Aomori and Akita Prefectures. The mister and I took a trip to Towadako (or Towada Lake), which was about a 3-ish hour drive from Morioka, and did a bit of sightseeing (as we do) before venturing off to the festival.

Towadako is located on the border of Akita and Aomori, as stated above, and is the deepest lake (at 327 meters) in Honshuu Island of Japan. When we arrived it was partially frozen, and the sun was also starting to set, which made for some lovely photos. And as my writing isn't magnificently engaging, please enjoy my amateur photography instead!

During the drive

Towadako panorama time!

Partially frozen lake

Lake tour boats

Frozen water drops always look so interesting

After taking some nice snaps, we drove to where the snow event was being held, and took a quick break before heading in (also to warm up inside the car, since it was rather chilly outside). I noticed a few people entering the event and soon exiting again, which made me wonder if there was even a whole lot to see. But anyway! We eventually ventured out into the cold to see what this snow festival was all about!

As we approached, there was a snow wall with strings of light bulbs encased in little igloos to light up the way and looked oh-so pretty, and a short entrance tunnel covered in blue lights.

Once inside, there wasn't a whole heap of people...probably because there wasn't a whole lot of things to see, but nonetheless they seemed to be enjoying themselves. A lot of children were pulling along plastic sleds, as there were two man-made slopes to go speeding down (responsibly of course!). There were light displays, archways to have couple-photos taken (because Japan's all about those "romantic stories" and such), some interesting snow architecture including a bar where people can try out some of Japan's alcohol range, a stage with a huge feature snow wall, and an alley with food stalls. We had a good time just leisurely walking around, taking photos, and freezing our fingers off.

Chocolate coated strawberries! I wish the chocolate was dairy free...

Looking a bit Christmasy!

Freeze for your sins? Jk guys!

80 years of snow festivities!

Just gonna pop in and talk about this bar. I don't drink a lot (so dun ask me about sake, sorry), so I wasn't super interested in going in, but we noticed other people going in with their kids, and since child-alcoholics were very unlikely...we kinda thought maybe there was something else inside. And I'm so glad I stopped being a party pooper and decided to go in, because I was greeted by a huge snow Totoro! Best bar ever, right? 

A snow No-Face too! Also two small ice sculptures that the camera has a whole lotta trouble capturing.

And that's all for the bar!

One of the prettier archways, with lights and cherry blossoms.

Sometimes I find the excessive lovey-dovey features a bit cheesy...

People could get a couple or family photo taken here for a fee, so being the cheapskate I am, I took it from afar!

Not sure about this butt-dancing snowman...haha

Eventually a crowd started to gather at the stage, and a couple of performers played music (with the volume set rather loudly, mind you), so we decided to stay and watch for a little, before retreating back to the car to warm up. The area we parked in was actually perfect, since there was a fireworks show and we could just recline and watch the show while we warmed up with the car heater and just lazed for a bit. Ten minutes later, the fireworks were over, and people started to leave (we did eventually, after the small masses cleared out). Overall the festival was kinda on the small side, but not disappointing considering it was a free event, and it went from around 4pm until around 8.15pm (with the live performances starting around 6.30pm). Not bad for a leisurely night out.

Since winter is now ending and we're heading into the warmer spring season, I'm SO looking forward to cherry blossoms and taking more lovely photos to share! Until next time, my friends~

New Year in Japan, 2016 - Hachimangu, Morioka

Why, hello there! Long time no post. I took a trip back home for just over a month and only recently got back. So now it's time to get back into gear! *Dons battle armor and charges forth*

Let's start with something that is WAY overdue: New Year in Japan!

During the lead-up to New Year, houses and commercial places started to display traditional decorations made of bamboo, braided straw, and sometimes colourful paper with fortunes written on them. It's also a custom to display them inside the home too, but we didn't do any of that this year. Breakin' the rules, yo!

As part of the Japanese tradition for celebrating New Year's Day (plus a few days after) is to visit shrines and pray for a good year, twe decided to take a quick trip to a large local shrine, called Hachimangu, in the town of Morioka.

These were taken some time before New Year, hence the lack of people, and taken with my smartphone, hence the lack of quality.

We arrived around 7-ish, a light bit of snow falling, and there were already a heap of people. Many were lined up waiting to pray at the biggest shrine on the site. There were other smaller shrines too, not to mention a whole lot of stalls selling food and decorative goodies. Although we didn't actually pray at any shrines, we nommed on obanyaki (filled pancake-like snack) and some amazake (sweet rice wine). So we're going to have a bad year, but at least we had some yummy food, hahaha!

One small shrine for each Japanese zodiac sign

The largest shrine at Hachimangu is beautifully decorated and up-kept, as are pretty much all Japanese structures nation-wide (they're very proud of the condition of statues, shrines, temples, etc). The traditional way to pray at a shrine for New Year is to cleanse your hands with water provided from a trough (and dry them of course), approach the shrine and generally make a coin donation, followed by rattling a bell that hangs from the ceiling, clapping twice, making your prayer then bowing. I've been told that it's not a custom to clap at all shrines.

You can also purchase fortune scrolls called omikuji for a small cost, each with a different level of fortune ranging from the worst luck to the best luck (there's five levels all up). The one pictured is from a different shrine, and on this occasion I had chosen 'small fortune', which isn't great but not the worst.

So back to Hachimangu! We only stayed for a short time, because as the day progressed a whole ton of people ventured to the shrine to pray and indulge in some food-goodies (and I'm not a fan of crowds). Some of the foods available were obanyaki (as mentioned above), taiyaki (fish-shaped bean-filled cake), takoyaki (savoury batter balls with octopus pieces), jagabataa (baked potatoes with butter and other toppings), dango (glutenous rice flour), and sticky rice crackers. Are you drooling yet?

Our little venture didn't last long, so there's not much else to talk about in regards to what we did that day. Another huge thing for New Year in Japan is a variety of sales at stores. When I was in Tokyo for New Year in 2013, people would shout from storefronts about their sales, which wasn't great for someone like me who hates people shouting in my face...but anyway, I imagine this year was no different and many people took advantage of the sales that went on...me not being one of them, lawl.

Spending New Year in Japan was an interesting experience, since back home it's all about partying with friends, loud music, drinking and setting off fireworks...or in my case, watch fireworks on TV and calm the pups down from being spooked by fireworks in the neighbourhood. So I'm glad I had the opportunity to be here for this special time of year, and for a second time at that!

Let's see if the fortune was wrong and this year actually turns out to be amazing *insert cliche winky face*

Hirosaki Owl Cafe - Japan Travel

Hi thar! Long time no post! I started off by having a couple of rough days, and then I just completely fell off the wagon and couldn't get back on track. My bad, guys.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year too! Mine was filled with a LOT of sleeping...so much that I fell asleep at midday 2015 and woke up in 2016 ._.

So! To start off the year, this post will be a travel-related one. (Completely different from schedule, but eh. More overthinking and such resulted in more questioning of this blog, and blah blah blah...anyway, travel!)

In early December, the mister and I went on a road trip to the city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. I'd received a Facebook post from my Mum about an owl cafe (!!!), so naturally I sussed it out and discovered that it wasn't in Tokyo, but in Aomori (which is a lot closer to me), and that pretty much prompted for us to go on a trip...not to mention we do enjoy our random adventures here and there.

 

It had snowed a bit, but as we approached the border to Aomori, snow increased, and soon we were driving through magical white tree tunnels. As beautiful the scenery was, the frozen roads were a tad scary...slipping and sliding while driving a van isn't my favourite thing. (We may have passed a few cars that had slid off the road and tipped over...)

 

 

 

Soon after we arrived in Hirosaki, we took a quick trip to a private onsen (hella good in the cold weather), had a short sleep, then ventured off to the owl cafe. We arrived and parked at a supermarket across the road (as there wasn't really sufficient parking elsewhere for cafe patrons). The cafe was on the corner of an intersection, with large owl pictures on the side of the building.

 

 

 

Upon entry, there was a large white owl on a perch, sitting quietly. The mood of the cafe was quite calm and light, with owl-themed pictures and merchandise  for purchase. We were seated and waited upon by one waitress, purchasing a drink each and the option to touch and hold some owls (the cost being 1000yen, or around 12AUD, each). We were then left to walk around the room and look at the owls, giving them all a pat (so much softness, uugghhh).

 

 

 

There were 14 owls of different species, sizes and colours inside the cafe, all perched with a small leash on one of their legs so they don't fly around everywhere. They were all so nice to look at, with beautifully patterned feathers and gorgeous eyes. One owl, named Conan, reacted rather strangely to my bear hat...maybe I looked like food.

 

 

 

After about 20 minutes of looking, patting and photographing owls, we asked to hold some. I had a go at holding the first white owl we saw (which also happened to be the biggest), but he seemed a little cranky so I felt bad for him. The mister held two smaller owls, and I tried one small owl. They weren't super timid, probably because of the constant exposure to people and daily human contact.

 

 

 

As we were the last customers for the day, we took some last photos, then paid our bill and left. Following our owl cafe adventure, we went to chow down some cheap bento dinners and began to make our way back home.

 

Overall, the owl cafe was an interesting and pleasant experience. I guess it was a little pricey though, since we only had a regular tea drink each and no food. But the environment was pleasant and the service was great.

 

If there's anything I'd point out is the welfare of the birds. I'm sure they're well taken care of, but I can't help but worry about nocturnal animals having their sleep patterns changed to stay awake during daytime hours. Also I don't know if they have the freedom to fly around during the cafe's closed hours. The image of a cute and innocent cafe where customers can handle beautiful owls seems to be more of a priority than the welfare of the animals...but that's just my personal opinion. Who knows, I could be completely wrong and they could be hand-raised orphaned owls. I thought I'd give it a go once for the experience, but I might not choose to go again.

 

And that concludes our little trip to Hirosaki Owl Cafe. Hope you enjoyed this post! I'm thinking about writing more about travel in Japan and such, since it seems to be more interesting than other things I write about. Maybe I'll throw in some mental health related things since I'm all about that mental health support and such. So yeah, let's see how this goes!

 

Until next post!