Big Float Festivals

There are festivals year-round in Japan, but August is the time of the big float festivals! There are many "Nebuta" and "Neputa" festivals to attend all over the Aomori Prefecture (where we live). Here is my very minimal knowledge of big float festival history: The legend of "Nebuta" and "Neputa" have to do with battle...going into and celebration of victory (or so I think...). All Nebuta and Neputa festivals feature a parade during which there is some combination of humongous floats, dancing, drumming, flute playing, and call-and-response chanting. They are all very high-energy and exciting. This year, I made it to three (Eric made it to two because he graciously stayed home with Bean so that Anna, John, and I could squeeze in a second festival during their few day stay in Misawa).

So let me start there! Anna and John visited us this summer! We met up with them in Aomori for the Aomori Nebuta Festival, which kicked off the Northern Japan portion of their Eastern Hemisphere Extravaganza 2014 (you are welcome for that name, guys). According to the ever-informative, Wikipedia, this festival attracts the most visitors out of all of Japan's Nebuta festivals and is one of the three largest festivals in the Tohoku region (northeastern portion of Honshu island). In other words, it is kind of a big deal. The 2013 festival took place just a week or so after Eric and I arrived in Misawa, and we were too jet-lagged/overwhelmed with being in a new country to attend...so it was a first for us, too. It was so surreal getting off the train, walking around the station and running into Anna and John in a random food market. It was sooooo good to see their smiling faces and give them big hugs. By the time they got to us in Japan, they had already been on the road for seven-ish months (I think). They had stories for days and we couldn't get enough of them.

Aomori Bay Bridge

We had some time to kill before the Nebuta parade started, so we snagged some beers and some street food and cruised around Aomori on foot. We got to look out at the bay (and bay bridge) and see some of the floats from years past on display. We did absolutely zero preparation for the parade portion of the festival (meaning: other people arrived early to stake out spots, brought chairs, picnic dinners, etc. and we did not). A few minutes before the parade started, we saw an empty spot on the sidewalk, we asked tired to ask some official looking people if we were allowed to sit there. Through a combination of Google translate and hand gestures, we figured out that we could sit there until someone came and told us we couldn't. So we sat down, right on the ground.

Because we had baby Bean with us, we got a lot of attention. Within seconds of plopping down on the concrete, people were offering us newspapers to sit on, then chairs, then blankets. Then we were offered food and beers. Before we knew it, we had front row seats on a cushy blanket for the parade. Score! The only trade off? We had to let Bean get passed down the street from lap to lap. We kept one eye on her and one on the parade. She didn't seem to mind...to much! People in Japan LOOOOVE babies! Needless to say, we did not get that kind of star treatment when we attended the next festival without the Bean in tow.

The parade was freakin awesome. That is about the only way to describe it. It was loud and festive! The float drivers (people standing on the bottom of the floats pushing them around on giant platforms with wheels) charged the crowd trying to "scare" us with the floats, which of course resulted in loud cheers and exclamations. There were hundreds (thousands? I am so bad at numbers) of dancers and people playing flutes and drums. It was an incredible experience. At the end of the evening, we were all ready for another snack so Anna and John introduced us to convenience store pancakes (which are pancakes pre-stuffed with butter and syrup...heck yes!). Pancakes in pocket, we hopped on a late night train back to Misawa.

You're not my mom!

Pause for a chat.

Is this my new family?

Mother? Father? Are you still there?

Where am I?

At least she seems nice...

I feel a bit used...

Float drivers.

Energizing the crowd!

Dancing toiletries?

Finally.

The next night (I think), Anna, John, my friend, Sarah, and I went to the Hirosaki Neputa festival. Eric volunteered to stay home with Bean. His request for payment? Takoyaki. The man loves his octo-balls!

There were many similarities to Aomori Nebuta (drums, flutes, chants); however, the festival was much smaller (fewer people, vendors, etc) and most of the floats (there were near 100) were fan-shaped. All of the largest floats were on some kind of man-powered hydraulic system that allowed them to rise and fall in order to pass under street lights and other obstructions. It was pretty impressive...though not as impressive given we attended in the shadow of Aomori Nebuta. The one thing I actually enjoyed more at the Hirosaki festival was the drumming. It seemed a bit more prominent; more intense. I am a sucker for good drumming.

Some sword action.

Some fan action.

Drummer in training. 

My favorite picture of Anna and Bean.

The remainder of John and Anna's visit included: a few Misawa highlights, much needed down-time/sleep (for them, which was so easy to provide on baby schedule), cooking/eating good food, lots of visiting and laughs, one memorable Cinnabon, and one hilariously epic you-had-to-be-there hunt for a scone shop.

We eventually found it, which lead to the consumption of many vitiates of scone and the start of my fairly intense scone habit.

We were so thankful to be one of the stops on Anna and John's world tour; we really enjoyed having them here. Their time with us passed all too quickly; but alas, they had to get back to the hard job of seeing the world (no seriously, these two backpacking pros are pretty darn tough!). Read all about them and their fabulous adventures here.

The last big float festival we made it to this season was in Goshogawara. The Goshogawara Nepputa festival is also smaller than Aomori Nebuta (probably bigger than Hirosaki?). The floats are ridiculously tall, which makes it pretty incredible in it's own right. We took an ITT (base travel group) bus tour with Keenan and Sarah because it was a bit of a hike from Misawa and we all wanted to partake in a few festival beverages. After all, this was the end of big festival season! Had to go out with a bang! Going through ITT meant that we had assigned seats in a grandstand to watch the parade. Again, we enjoyed lots of street food delicacies (which included some fabulous grilled scallops) as well as some monster floats from years past before the start of the parade. The parade featured a number of several-stories-high floats and some famous pop artist that all the Japanese people around us were pretty psyched about.

Drums built into float platform. 

She was itty bitty! 

Famous guy.

Big floats and Lawson: that's what Japan does!

I think out of all three festivals, the only one I am sure to attend again is Aomori Nebuta, but I am so glad to have been to all of them. And to be clear, we didn't get to ALL the big float festivals in our radius...there are a few others to see. Good thing we have one more summer on deck!

Fin.