Aomori Festival

The Aomori Festival was the by far the biggest festival with the most people. It was the last night of the festival(festivals usually last around a few days)so the floats were put out into the harbor for everyone to see and then they have a firework show over the water. There was of course more food vendors, but we decided to eat healthy that night and had a corn on the cob (cold but good) and a rice ball with some salty salmon inside. I also experienced one of my most embarrasing moments at this festival which I will share later with a picture so you can better understand what happened.

Hachinohe Festival

This was a fun night and great way to celebrate my birthday on July 31st. The festival was very colorful, loud, crowded at times, and the floats were amazing. The floats all told a different mythical story and there were about 50 different floats and each float had members shouting over and over again (yada yada yada yada). Apparently it doesn't mean anything. There was also a bunch of street vendors selling all sorts of different foods on sticks again. We decided to try the different deserts, so we tried the icecream which was similar to a sorbet type taste. And we had a whipcream fruit filled crepe which was really good. We had our first photo taken by a japanese man who I thought wanted us out of the way so he could take a better picture of a float, but apparently he wanted us in the picture. And Chase is just a hit here, we constantly here cow-wa-ee(means cute) and then they touch his cheek. The japanese are some of the nicest people and they love kids and they love their festivals.

Hachinohe Train Station Float

Just a fun picture taken on our tour day of Hachinohe. They took us to the train station to give us an idea of how to use it(still clueless), they took us to a nearby mall for lunch, and we went to the fish market. It was an interesting way to spend my birthday.

Fish Market

Have you lost your appetite yet? This fish market was unbelievable! There were just rows of people selling fish, squid, crab, fish eggs, and who knows what. Some stands had samples you could try. We were not very brave, but we did try some tasty crab and shrimp. The picture of Chase is right after he ate some crab, and I think he approved. We will have to go back and buy some fish or crab sometime, and we will let you know how it turns out. This fish market is in Hachinohe which is a city about 15 minutes from Misawa.

Shinto Shrine

What is your Chinese sign? Cole and I are the year of the monkeys and Chase is the year of the rat. We went to a Shinto shrine where we learned that there is a special ritual done in order to cleanse yourself before entering the shrine. It does involve putting the water in your mouth, so I hope everyone's hands were clean that day. And there is a special way to say a prayer which involves ringing the bell, clapping your hands, and bowing. Here you see me clasping my hands as I bow. But you don't want to clasp your hands and bow in front of people like we see in the movies cause it is only done for honoring the dead or in spiritual situations (at least that's what they told us). The Japanese love to bow whenever they greet, leave, say thank you, and just because. Needless to say, you end up doing a lot of head bobbing in return.

Buddhist Shrine & Samurai House

Here are some pictures of a Buddhist shrine, a Japanese cemetery, and inside a samurai house. The air force requires that all newcomers to the base go on two days worth of tours. The first day they showed us around Misawa and took us to one of the Buddhist shrines. A couple things we learned from the shrine: Buddhists don't go to church once a week. They do a lot more individual meditation and then go to the shrines on holidays or during special occasions. Anyone can enter their shrines, but you have to take off your shoes (which is required when you enter most homes, restaurants, and some bathrooms.) When they enter a shrine they will say a pray and either burn some incense, wash their hands, or ring a bell. Their cemeteries are also very interesting and they have a lot of them right next to the roads. They believe in cremation and usually one statue contains many family's ashes and if I remember right, the sticks have the deceased member's holy name engraved on them.

Misawa Local Festival

Here are some pictures of the Misawa local festival we went to our first weekend in Japan.  It was right outside the Misawa Air base gate, so we were able to walk over to it from the tlf.  They had a lot of food items on sticks.  My favorite was the chocolate covered banana, and some chicken skewers.  Cole tried the calamari skewer cause he said he wants to be adventurous.  However, later his stomach told him to be a little more choosy.  I think Chase wasn't sure what was going on with his surroundings cause we had a hard time getting his attention for a picture.  And it was drizzling outside while we were walking around which we are finding to be the norm around here.  It is so green and beautiful around here, but it is because it rains a lot here.  More just drizzle rain and once a week a down pour it seems.  

Misawa Air Base

Right after we arrived to Misawa, our sponsor picked us up and we headed to Misawa Air Base.  We actually share this air force base with the japanese air force, so that is why they have a sign right next to ours.  Their are mostly americans on the base, but their is a strong japanese presence.  The town of Misawa has 40,000 people with 10,000 of them being Americans.  We stayed in the tlf(temporary living facilities) for two weeks which felt like we were on a never ending vacation.  It had a little kitchen, family room, and one bedroom with a washer and dryer down the hall.  It wasn't too bad and Chase finally decided one night that he would start walking here.  So that was a lot of fun.  The picture with him and Cole's hat was taken right after he started walking (two weeks before he turned one).  The last picture is our first experience at a restaurant in Japan with the Broughs and Farnsworths.  It was a chinese restaurant over at a mall about 10 min. from our place, known as Shimoda or Aeon mall.  When you order at restaurants around here, you don't know exactly what you are ordering since most menus are in japanese.  But they do have pictures in the menus and they have the actual dishes of what you can order in their display windows which is a little different.  Our meal was really good and Chase was enjoying it as well.

Our last Goodbye to Brighton

With our move to Japan and Cole's upcoming deployment, we decided it would be best for Brighton to stay in the states and go to another family. It was a really hard decision for us and we still can't really talk about it. But we love Brighton dearly and we know she will never be replaced. She was a very special girl who loves to snuggle and loves life. Brighton right now is staying with her mom and half sister, but she will be going to a lady soon who lost her Berner a year ago and is excited to have Brighton join her.

Chase's 1st Visit to Hogle Zoo