Local Goshogawara celebrity Sorcha gets a few curious looks from the ghostly minions of Hand Cymbols Guy.


Last week was time for the one thing Aomori is famous for (other than snow and apples), and that is its lavish summer night festivals. Aomori City's Nebuta parade is no doubt the biggest and most famous, with Hirosaki's Neputa closely behind, but I'm a little more partial to Goshogawara's lesser known Tachi-Neputa, and it's 7 story high mega floats. I like to think of last year's parade as the "Taishi-Neputa" since Steph's monk boyfriend at the time was kind enough to reserve a space along the route for us. Sadly there was no Taishi to be seen this year, but we managed to find a fairly good spot in the end opposite a store full of dusty over priced toys. Click on Read More to see all the great stuff you probably missed out on...

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Hugh gets in a few more double peace poses while it's still socially acceptable for him to do so.




Luke arrives with the beerus.



We had lots of time to kill before the floats made their way to where we sat.




Kate still hasn't forgotten everything Tyra taught her about posing.



Here comes the cop car. The show's finally about to begin!




Just like last year, things start off with a mega-huge drum you can hear coming from a mile away. Before it finally rounds the corner you'd swear you were moments away from being crushed by Godzilla.



Please don't confuse bald hand symbols guy with crushed beer cans guy.




First up were a few Aomori Nebuta style floats. This one featuring a bloody decapitation was pretty cool.



Among a group of important looking lantern carriers was our very own Sorcha Clifford!




Finally some big floats start coming our way, though this one wasn't all that impressive.



That's better.




In fact this one was so big it needed a driver. Most big floats were controlled with parts ripped off of cars or big sticks.



Wait a sec?... no, that can't be...




It is!!! It's Hard Gay! (Or at least a loving tribute to him anyway)



The big floats kept on coming. This one has an interesting puffy pants and coat thing going on.




This one was probably the most impressive of the bunch, standing what looked to me to be about 8 stories high. I don't recognize the character, though it reminded me a bit of last year's unconventional Dragon Ball Z float.



Following most of the floats were yosakoi dancers and drummers, but behind a few of them were rampaging hordes of young adults. This year the rampaging hordes weren't quite as nuts as the year before...




...but that didn't stop these two guys from thrusting their crotches in my face. What the Hell?!!



Not all the big floats had comfortably seated drivers and motorized wheels.




I'm not sure what the deal is with this float, but it was the last in the parade and also was featured on all the posters and pamphlets. Last year's first place winner perhaps?




That's it, time to go home.