Domokun Hirosaki Neputa float, presumably sponsored by NHK.


So this week marks the one noteworthy event Aomori has every year, and that's the Nebuta and Neputa parades. Almost every city or town in Japan has some kind of summer festival, and Aomori City's nightime parade of brightly lit paper scultures is probably one of the most famous and popular of them all. I got a chance to check out the less popular and more laid back of the two, namely the Neputa festival, last Sunday while back 'home' in Hirosaki. It was pretty cool I guess, but the whole float, drum, pipers... float, drum, pipers thing got a little tired after a while. Friday I'll actually be participating in the Nebuta parade in Aomori City which should be interesting. There is apparently lots of jumping and dancing involved, so I might just 'peace out' when the parade passes near the McDonald's. I won't post any more photos of the whole summer festival madness until after Friday, but I do have a new photo gallery made up of other stuff I did last month. Check it out here.