It is a beautiful day as we sail into Akita. Cool. Sunny. Perfect for our wanderings today – which are just that – wanderings. We are up and out early – we bought the shuttle package from the ship and have tickets for all 4 ports where we need it. But we know the drill – after watching the lovely Welcome Ceremony Singer, we get out to the shuttle first thing! Even if the first bus doesn’t leave for 30 to 40 minutes, because it is better to be first in line than stand in the long, long, long line that will inevitably happen. Even though we stop to watch the singers and dancers for a couple minutes – as we knew it would, the line happens! We manage to be first on the bus though, along with another couple, who begins to quiz the guide who is escorting us about places to eat, places to see. We are trying not to be so proscribed and planned when we hit the ground – but having done no research and having no plans is a bit much. Ah well, different strokes for different folks! We do get one tidbit from the conversation though, her favorite Udon lunch place, which is right near the shuttle drop off. So noted.
Our strategy works perfectly and we are in town by a little after 9, on our way to the Folk Arts Center, otherwise known as the Neburinagashi-Kan center (after the annual festival held here). It is a quick and easy walk across the canals and over to the museum, arriving there there before they opened. We knew we would be early, but wanted to ensure we were at least sort of ahead of the tours (that we know are coming here). We bided our time by buying an iced latte from 7-11 across the street (if only we had these types of convenience stores in the States, they are the best!), then sat on the Arts Center front stairs waiting for the doors to open. They actually opened early because, of course, a tour bus pulled up but we still got in first – which was perfect. The center is all about the Neburinagashi-Kan festival, now called the Kanto festival, that occurs every August here in Akita. Originally held as a festival for ridding illness and the drowsiness of sleepiness, children would carry lanterns with candles to the river, writing wishes on the lantern and floating them down the river. In the 1800s the festival evolved into a celebration of the Meiji Emperor’s visits, the name was changed to Kanto, and the processions began to use the large lanterns that the community used in front of their homes. Somewhere in this time period, the traditions of making cross poles tied to a bamboo pole with numerous tiers of lanterns began. “Talented” people were selected to hold the poles by themselves, and this versions of the festival is what continues on today as a rite of Summer. The first floor holds samples of the lanterns – which look like large sake barrels, only lighter. There are also representatives of Kanto poles – holy cow! One person holds one of those things up? That’s nuts! Fortunately – because we were first in, we get a few moments to ourselves to examine all these exhibits – and watch a great video that shows how the lanterns are paraded through the city. Oh – you’ve got to search Akita Kanto on YouTube to see the videos. They are beyond belief – just totally amazing.
And then the hordes – or the tour bus people – show up. Time to scamper to the 2nd floor where there is lots of information about the festival and its origins, plus more pictures throughout history of these huge lantern structures being paraded through the city as well as the costumes worn during the festival. Fun.
As we are leaving, the bus tour guide (who thinks we are with her) shows us a door to an old traditional house that is attached to the more modern museum. We had seen this building when we walked up, but didn’t know for certain if it was part of the museum or not. Apparently it is – so in we go! The Kaneko Family house was used as their home and a clothing store, operating from 1854 to 1975. We can explore the main room – as well the shop, which is set up in the shame way as during the Showa Era, the more modern day Japanese period that began in the 1920’s. There is also a mud-walled storehouse that was added later and used for meetings and hobbies (which looks like a big dining room). Here again, being early is good, because we have free reign to explore without anyone else around.
As the bus tour descends, we skedaddle, walking over to Senshu Park past a gorgeous lily pond lined with just changing trees toward the Kubota Castle ruins – and the Akita dogs! Obviously, the big thing here -hence the name – these cuties are so adorable in pictures, and the miniature ones are precious in real life (the ones we have seen being paraded around here anyway). Supposedly you can see the dogs from 11 to 3 – but we are a bit earlier than that and think we won’t be able to see them. Not so! Guess they were open early – or maybe they do shows from 11 to 3? Don’t know, but we were able to walk through the tents where 3 Akitas were housed in their cages. Ok – they aren’t as cute as the pictures. Actually sort of mean looking – and there are signs all over about Akitas biting. Okie dokie – we aren’t sticking our hands inside those cages. Although I must say the little puppy – at 4 months – is adorably cute – but still.
A nice little diversion before we begin our stroll through the leafy green park with loads to see – from prayer stones to a statue of Satake Yoshitaka, the last Daiymo in the Kobuta era, statues to a great little temple with Toji gates – on our way up the hill to the Osumi-yagura, the reconstruction of one of the 8 previously existing castle towers. The view from the observatory floor is fabulous – you can see all across the city. Definitely a spectacular day for it.
Our kind of morning! A great folklore museum and a fabulous stroll through a lovely park. Down from the tower we go, past older buildings, lots of greenery and the canals that are overgrown with some sort of lily plant. Their season is over, but we can just imagine how gorgeous – and huge – the flowers would be in the summer.
And then we’re back into the city with the manhole covers (my new city search thing), the interesting and strange cartoonish statues every city seems to have and a special performance in a square just for us cruise ship passengers. Nice.
The square is right next to the Akita Museum of Art, one of the 2 art museums on our list, and being as it is still a little too early for lunch (nothing typically opens until 11:30), we figure we’ll tour here before lunch. Housed in a really modern building, the museum focuses mainly on the works of Tsuguharu Foujita, a Japanese-French painter who, after studying western painting in Japan, went to Paris and began incorporating European styles into his traditional Japanese paintings. There is also a special exhibition here focusing on Toulous Lautrec and the Belle Epoque. At first we thought the French exhibition was odd – but when you learn about Foujita, you see the connection! The French paintings are wonderful – how can they not be? – but Foujita’s paintings are definitely different and interesting – a bizarre almost surrealistic style of expressionism, those oddly shapes heads and weird body poses. There is one incredible traditional mural on display though – The Events of Akita, which depicts festivals and life in Akita. 12 feet tall and 67 feet long – it is a wonder to see. And it only took him 15 days to paint it! That’s just nuts. Unfortunately no photos are allowed, but I did manage to sneak a photo of a small reproduction they were selling in the gift shop. It doesn’t really do justice to the original, but it at least gives you an idea.
Quickly done with the museum, it is time for lunch. Luckily, the recommended Udon place is just around the corner. But, while Udon is a specialty here, they serve it cold. Hmmmm…..we’re not into cold noodles – even if it is the specialty, and end up at a restaurant right next door called Honke Abeya which has all the other traditional Akita food. Done. Had an awesome lunch of oyako-don – which is “comfort food” here. Oh so good! It’s like chicken noodle soup on steroids – Ed got the traditional oyako-don set which was a huge bowl with chicken, eggy, broth and rice. I got the special set with had a raw egg in the middle along with different cuts of chicken. Needless to say, we shared and were totally stuffed on this yummy goodness by the end.
Time to walk off our lunch – onward to the next art museum, the Senshu Museum of Art located in this large office building type complex. We arrived, following the signs, and could not find this place to save our souls. We sat in the lobby of this huge atrium for a while just getting our bearings and finally realized this huge glass walled open office-looking space was the entry into the museum. Yikes! At least we found it! And here again, there is another European special exhibit, this time with Dali (one of my favs). It was actually a very good exhibition with a lot of works we had never seen before – tons I’ll now have to look up on the Internet when we get back. Again – no photos – but we do have the brochure with at least this one painting.
Leaving the museum, we peruse the gift shop – which doesn’t have much, but they do have this tape. What they call masking tape, with all sorts of artwork on it. We’ve seen this at another museum, guess it is a thing – strange to us, but what do we know?
Next, we hit the public market which looked like it was closing, it was getting on in the afternoon. There was lots of produce and tons of seafood. The best part was the roe. Everywhere roe! Salmon roe in all levels of quality. I so wanted to buy some to make my own sushi, but didn’t have a clue where to start or what any of the different varieties would taste like, so ended up not indulging in that little fantasy.
Backtracking, we head over to the last visit of our day – a craft and historical museum located in the Akarenga-Kan, the original headquarters of the Akita bank built in 1912. The building itself is incredible to tour – over the top furnishings, soaring atrium ceilings in the main lobby, huge marble fireplaces in different offices, ornately carved marble accents, wallpaper, furnishings. Beautiful. Plus, the exhibits were good – detailed storyboards on how the traditional dolls are made, a great video inside the original bank vault! Very nice.
There were also two excellent special exhibits (no photos); one on the work of Sekiya Shiro who created amazing metal works. There was a great video of him making a vase for colored flowers – extraordinary how he did it and the end product. The other exhibit focused on Katshuhia Tokushi, a famous block printing artist. Incredible artwork. Well worth the visit.
With that, our day here is done! We get back to the shuttle stop, stand in line with the hundreds of other ship people, managing to snag the last 2 seats at the very back of the first bus to show up, and commence our normal evening activities after we are all aboard. Sailaway is fabulous – it is the first time for Noordam in this port, so the city gives us a send off with fabulous fireworks! We are in prime position, because of course, we’re having dinner on the back deck of the Lido buffet – hey it was fish, and I’ve told you about the fish in the dining room! Plus it is a gorgeous night, and why not eat alfresco?
After dinner, our plans were to go to the comedian’s second show but – uh oh! Bad seas starting later. The Captain has announced that there is a big storm out there, we’re actually watching it on the Windy app! Because we have to go outside of Japan – they have something similar to the Jones act requiring cruises that start and end in Japan to include an international port – we have to sail right through this storm on our way to Sokcho, S. Korea. Pooh. That all being said, the dance show (which we’ve already seen) has been moved to tonight while the seas are calmer, the comedian has been pushed to tomorrow. Okie dokie. Cabin night then!!!! It’s gorgeous outside. And we are very happy sitting on the balcony, reading, then watching movies.
All’s good so far. And I have my pills!!!!
Andiamo 