TachiNeputa & Nebuta

This week we traveled to Goshogawara and Aomori for their lantern festivals. Each city in the area has a lantern festival, but Goshogawara, Aomori, and Hirosaki are the biggest. Each city has their own unique style of float and also their own melody.


On Monday we went to Goshogawara, whose floats are as tall as 7-story buildings! They are huge! Their melody is very upbeat and there is a lot of dancing and yelling.






















On Wednesday we traveled to Aomori whose floats are 3D (very detailed!) and very wide. Aomori is the most touristy neputa festival. The Aomori parade is supposed to be symbolic of the return from battle.
















Their melody was even more upbeat and there was even more dancing! We got pulled out to dance many times! Here is an example with Angie and Haruna.

















Also, on Tuesday, after staking our ground for the parade hours before it started, we watched the Hirosaki Neputa again. This time Travis got pulled in to help carry one of the floats! Luckily, it was only for about 20 feet!

There are more pictures in the Picasa Web Album if you want to see more of the parades!