日本旅行推薦ＳＰ：三、弘前
皆、お待たせ！先月僕は日本旅行スペシャルで蕪島と休屋を推薦するだよね、今回は弘前だ！
弘前市は、青森県にあって、有名な弘前城がある所だ。弘前市はすごいだろうね。。。
This episode of myJapanColors’ Japan Travel Special Series will focus on the city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. Honestly speaking, I didn’t know that this post is going to be so long until I finished it. So take your time and enjoy it and leave your comments! 🙂
Hirosaki is a city located in Aomori Prefecture in North-eastern Japan, also known as Tohoku. Famous for its castles (Hirosaki-jou) and apples, Hirosaki proves to be a quaint city to visit as one would not usually experience the hustle and bustle of urban cities there. Tourists stop by Hirosaki mostly for its historical castles, cherry blossoms, and apples produced locally.
I had some fun and memorable experiences stopping by this beautiful city and I’m glad I did. I still remember vividly that my schedule was disrupted because of a heavy rain when I arrived at Hirosaki, and I had to put off my plans of visiting the castles for the day. When the rain finally stopped, it was already past 7 in the evening, and it was already dark.
One thing I notice during my Japan trip was that the sun rises quite early in the morning, about 5am, and sets really early around 6pm. Hence you can see cars and cyclists along the roads as early as 6am and shops closing as early as 630pm.
As I was saying, I went out and found all the diners have closed for the day and there was no dinner provided at the hotel! I was quite lucky to find one little stall still open for business, but all they sell was Japanese pancakes. Not knowing what else to expect, I went in to take a look.
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Yes, this is the stall I was telling you about. I wasn’t sure whether it may appear rude to be taking a picture of its entrance, hence I took the picture from an angle where I can’t be seen. But you can still make out the name on the glass window – こがね焼 or ‘koganeyaki’, which literally means ‘fried gold’ – and they are selling it at ¥50 per piece. It seemed like a good deal although I had no idea what I will be buying at that time.
And interestingly enough, now that I look back at these pictures, the yellowish light that seems to be shining through the window does make it seem like a gold mine – you know? like it really is frying gold pieces. |
The shopkeeper was a kind middle-aged lady who spoke brillant English! No offence to Japanese, but it is rare to find someone who can speak English fluently, especially in areas away from Tokyo! She saw that I am not a local, and hence went on to explain to me what the pancake is, and how it should be eaten. I took a place in the stall and shortly after the pancake is served!
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日本旅行推薦ＳＰ：二、休屋 (Part 1)
皆、お待たせ！先回僕は日本旅行スペシャルで蕪島を推薦するだよね、今回は休屋だ！
休屋は、小さな町で、いい見物する所だ。この町は全部で三十分位歩けるね。町の人々は親切で、山や湖や景色などが凄いだ。いい休息の所だなあ！
以下休屋で撮った写真は皆と分かち合う。。。
Yasumiya (休屋), a place to enjoy the tranquility and beauty of nature, is one of my favorite places visited in Japan. This shall be my second installment of myJapanColors’ Japan Travel Special Series. Enjoy!
Yasumiya is a small town situated along the coastline of the Lake Towada, located in the Towada-Hachimantai National Park. Lake Towada is the largest caldera lake on Honshuu, Japan’s main island. Located on the border between Akita and Aomori Prefectures, the area is well known for its autumn colors especially around the Oirase Stream, one of Japan’s most famous autumn color spots. I will make special mention of the Oirase Stream in my next installment of the travel special series.
The Yasumiya town is so small that you can walk the entire stretch of the coastline in about 30 minutes. The name ‘yasumiya’ is made up of two words – ‘yasumi’ which means ‘holiday, rest, break’ and the suffix ‘ya’ which means ‘house, place’. Together, they form the image of this town as a good place for a holiday.
The town houses a few hotels, some of which contains hot springs within them, restaurants, diners, souvenir shops, a science museum, tourist information centre, a bus terminal, a ferry terminal and a park that contains some of the most famous sculptures and shrines.
To learn about Yasumiya, it is important to understand the origins of Lake Towada. Lake Towada is in fact a caldera lake of an active volcano, and is drained by the Oirase Stream.
Below is a set of pictures showing the origins of Lake Towada and Yasumiya.
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十和田湖は火山活動によってできた湖。湖の母体となった十和田火山は、約２０万年前に誕生した。火口から軽石や溶岩が噴き出し、大きな山になった。 | Lake Towada is a lake originated from volcanic activity. The lake’s parent body was the Towada volcano, which was born about 200,000 years ago. Pumice stones and molten lava erupted from the volano’s crater, and formed a huge mountain. |
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大規模な軽石流が噴き出した直後に、山が大きく陥没してカルデラとよばれるなべ状の凹地形でき、そこに水がたまり、十和田湖の原形となった。 | Immediately following the eruption of large-scale pumice stones, a large pot-shaped cave-in occurred on the mountain, and is known as a ‘caldera’. Here, water was gathered, and Lake Towada was formed. |
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約１万年前、このカルデラ湖の底で新しい火山活動がはじまり、円錐形の小火山が出現した。 | About 10,000 years ago, new volcanic activity started at the bottom of the caldera, and a small cone-shaped volcano appeared. |
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約８千６百年前、軽石を噴き上げた大噴火の直後に山頂部が陥没し、２度目のカルデラができ、湖水面はしだいに高くなって、新旧カルデラは、ひときの湖になった。 | About 8,600 years ago, immediately after the pumice stones spouted flames in the air, the mountain top caved in, twice a caldera was formed, as soon as the lake water level became higher, the new and old caldera formed the current shape of the lake. |
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約４千年前、湖の水は外輪山の一番低い壁を破って流れ出し、奥入瀬渓谷をつくった。約１千年前には、御倉半島の先端に溶岩が噴き出し、御倉山をつくった。 | About 4,000 years ago, water from the lake flowed out the lowest wall at the outer mountain ring, and the Oirase Valley was produced. About 1,000 years ago, when one end of the Ogura Peninsula erupted, Mt. Ogura was formed. |
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日本旅行推薦ＳＰ：一、蕪島
皆、僕の日本旅行推薦スペシャルは第一の所が蕪島だ。蕪島は日本東北での八戸市に、ＪＲ鮫駅の近くにある。そして、蕪島は海猫の繁殖地だ。皆そこに絶対行くね！
For the very first installment of myJapanColors’ Japan Travel Special Series, I am going to share with everyone the beauty of Kabushima (蕪島).
Kabushima, literally translated as ‘seagull island’, is a shrine located in Hachinohe city, up in the north-eastern part of Japan, or Tohoku, in the Aomori prefecture. Kabushima is also the breeding ground of over 40,000 black-tailed seagulls, or ‘uminekos’. There is a festival there on the third Sunday of April each year.
The Kabushima Shinto shrine was constructed in 1269, to enshrine the god of the business prosperity and the child giving. This god is also the guardian deity of the fishery. The black-tailed gulls are said to be the messenger of the god, and it is loved as the birds that tell signs of incoming schools of fishes.
Although the Shinto shrine forbids visitors to feed these gulls, people still feed them every now and then, hence these black-tailed gulls of Kabushima are very accustomed to and are not afraid of human. However, it is rumored that the fact that these black-tailed gulls do not fear human is one of the reasons causing a decrease of the black-tailed gull population.
 Seeing Kabushima from a distance; the white specks are uminekos |
 Uminekos gathered at a nearby courtyard. Look at their mass numbers! |
 A close-up shot of an umineko |
 Entrance to the Kabushima Shrine |
 Information map on nature sightseeing spots around Same Station |
 Another information map showing the location of Kabushima |
 Poster introducing the heritage and significance of Kabushima |
 Beautiful flowers surrounding Same Station |
 Same Station |
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