Japan -12

Hi, For our final port we returned to Aomori.

Musicians on the pier greeted the ship.

We first visited the Warasse Nebuta Museum.  The museum had numerous displays related to the Nebuta Festival which would begin that evening.

Key to the festival are floats, such as the one above.

Also, there was a display of masks, two of which are shown above and below.

Next we walked over to where preparations were being made for the evening's parade.  Above is one of the floats.  These are lit from the inside.

Drums also are an important part of the parade.  Here they are being tuned.

A short distance beyond where the preparations were underway groups of children were performing (above and two below).  I think this was just a practice session based on the lack of any costumes.

Our final visit for the trip was the Sannai Maruyama Archaeological Site .  There were many more structures of greater variety than we saw during our previous visit to a Jomon site (above and three below).

This is the interior (above) of the building below.  It is believed that long houses such as this served either as meeting halls or workshops.

Thanks for looking.