Summertime in Aomori - Nebuta Festival

JR-sponsered float at Nebuta Festival, 2013

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri (青森ねぶた祭り) is an exciting summer festival held in the first week of August. The yearly festival spans one week, which includes two grand fireworks displays, daytime float viewing, and above all, the spectacular nightly parades. The large, illuminated floats featured in these parades are impressively well-crafted and look beautiful in the evening. They generally depict battles between brave warriors and/or demons, and often incorporate other traditional Japanese motifs like animals, sea waves, etc. It's important to note that there are two additional such festivals in the region, including Goshogowara Tachi Nebuta, and Hirosaki Neputa. The Aomori festival is considered to be the biggest of the three and I will focus on it here, but all are unique and definitely worth checking out.

Fireworks display in Asamushi, 2013

The famous festival launches with a great fireworks display in the neighboring town of Asamushi (浅虫) on August 1. Located at the beach, the fireworks (花火, hanabi, or lit. "fire flowers") commence at nightfall and last for nearly two hours. In recent years I've gone early to secure a good viewing spot and catch the sunset while masses of people pour in to the area. The beach itself is closed as a safety precaution, but plenty of spaces are available just behind it and I've been able to get a nice view every year. As it has become a bit of a tradition, fellow English teachers from the area and Japanese friends alike come watch together on this night of fireworks as well. 

In Nebuta costume, 2012

The fantastic nightly parades start the next night in Aomori City. Taking place over six days and lasting two hours each, the parades are incredibly lively, fun, and upbeat. Each processional group is responsible for creating their unique float,  getting high school boys to push the floats during the parades, and organizing musicians who will march along and play the festival music each night. A major component is also the haneru (跳ねる, or "jump/bounce") dancers, who are in fact just regular everyday people who wish to participate. Initially these people tend to be workers for the company sponsoring the particular float, but anyone can join as long as they are wearing the proper festival costume. As a quick note, the English verb used to describe this dance is "jump" (e.g. "I will jump in the Nebuta Festival today").

In my opinion, the fact that you can move freely in and out of various groups throughout the night is one of the best aspects of the festival. So every year I've been able to enjoy jumping in a wide variety of groups and with all kinds of people, as well as find where the craziest and wildest dance groups are located.

If you want to try the Nebuta dance, all you have to do is jump up and down in a skipping motion, switching between legs. While dancing, you also must chant the phrase, Rasserā, Rasserā, Rasserā-serā-serā." Joining the parade very fun and I consider it a must-do experience. But watching the parade is also quite a spectacle.

The biggest feature of the festival are the Nebuta floats, as I mentioned earlier.  Amazingly, they are created from scratch every year. Originally, these used to be made from bamboo, covered in paper, and illuminated by real candles. But over time these materials were replaced by wire and electric lighting sources due to the obvious fire hazards! 

Standing in front of a Nebuta float

The marching musicians all play the same Nebuta song (see video above), and include taiko drums, flute, and small cymbals. Like the dancers, the musicians are generally everyday people living in the city, rather than professionals. The drummers are generally made up of men and sometimes women, but the flute and cymbal players come from all ages, both males and females. Also present in the parade is "Miss Nebuta," and sometimes a few other various figures. For instance, I saw a man randomly dressed like Elvis walking through the parade this year (sorry, no picture).

On the final day of the festival, a more relaxed version of the parade takes place in the afternoon and a fireworks show happens later in the evening. This final fireworks show (at Aomori Bay, Aomori City) acts as a closing ceremony and is quite beautiful. The floats are placed on boats and taken across the water to be seen just before the fireworks start. This show takes almost two hours, just like the first firework show in Asamushi a week earlier.

Final fireworks display of the festival

The Nebuta Festival is said to boost Aomori's population tenfold during the week. It makes the energy level in the city skyrocket and it's a very fun and exciting time. Every night people enjoy the festivities. People shout the Rassera chant and energetically jump and dance in the parades while the famous Nebuta music is played and spectators watch with smiles on their faces. Once the last firework is shot off and the final beers are drunk, the amped up town starts to settle down again, and Aomori quickly returns to normal. In Aomori, the end of Nebuta means school will be starting up again. It means the streets will be quiet at night. And it means that summer will be fading away soon. But before long, people will start designing and building the Nebuta floats again, and we will all look forward to what the next festival has in store.

Summertime in Aomori - Sun, Fun, & Festivals

I previously described what summer vacation means for students and my workday at school. Japanese students still must come to school often to participate in their various school clubs, and I still must come to school to prepare for the annual English Speech Contest. But of course, there are much more exciting things happening during this time of the year!

The excitement really starts to grow in July as summer activities take hold in Aomori. You can feel an energy in the air. People are out and about, enjoying cold drinks with friends after work and heading to the beach on the weekends. As the biggest and funnest summer festival in northern Japan (Nebuta Matsuri, covered in my next post) approaches, life just feels good.

For me, one of the first signs that summer has arrived is that I have more chances to watch beautiful sunsets on warm, sunny days. I'm really fortunate to have some great viewpoints near my home for doing this too. Whenever I can, I ride my bike out to the edge of Aomori Bay to catch it before the yellow orb dips below the horizon (Aomori Bay is the southern part of Mutsu Bay, which connects to the Tsugaru Strait, and eventually the Pacific Ocean).

Sunset from Aomori Bay, Japan

Another great thing about summer is going to BBQ parties. I do these with friends all the time during the season, usually going to a nice local beach called Gappo Park (合浦公園, Gappo Koen). Sometimes we head to another beach a little farther away called Asamushi Sunset Beach (浅虫サンセットビーチ), as well.

Photo by Yuki Harako

Towards the middle of the month, a week-long festival takes place called the Yasukata Bay Festival (青森安潟みなと祭り, Aomori Yasukata Minato Matsuri). Named by the popular downtown area near the sea and tourist center where it takes place--it's a free, live music and dance festival.

The main event of the festival is actually called the Japan Blues Festival. What's really cool about this, is that every year the headliners are blues performers from Chicago. Being from Chicago myself, I did chat with some of the band members a little between performances and after the show. It's pretty interesting to hear their perspective about Japan and performing here. They certainly enjoy it a lot, that's for sure. The Blues Festival spans two days, starting on a Friday and finished up late on a Saturday night.

Chicago Blues at the Japan Blues Festival, 2013

In the days following the Blues Festival, there are many dance performances. These are mostly local dance groups/teams who perform, but in Japan that doesn't mean they are not skilled. Dancing, especially hip-hop dancing, is immensely popular amongst Japanese children and young adults. Moreover, it's not uncommon to see middle-aged Japanese adults involved with hip-hop dancing either.

Kids finished up a hip-hop dance performance

Last year (2012), I actually participated in one of the dance performances. Hip-hop dancing is not really my style, but I gave it shot because it was a team from the gym I attend. I felt like embarrassing myself in front of thousands of people was enough for one year, so this year I simple watched and snapped photos :-)

Summertime in Aomori - School Break

Trips to the beach, BBQs with friends, bike rides, parties, and loads of fun festivals--here in Aomori, summer is in full swing. There's all kinds of things going on and I'd like to share some of my summer experiences here. Although the summer solstice (夏至, or geshi) occurred on June 21 this year, it didn't feel like summer until a full month later. And indeed, I tend to think this feeling is shared every year by many people living up here in northern Japan; it isn't until late July when the weather starts to finally warm up, school gets out, and the big festivals begin. And I think it's especially true that as a teacher, summer doesn't seem to start until the school summer vacation does.

The term wrapped up on July 19 with a closing ceremony (終業式, or shuugyoushiki). The ceremony was similar to others and included some speeches, bowing, and a lecture to students about behaving during the break. A few days later, summer break officially kicked off, also falling on the same day as the national holiday Umi No Hi (海の日; or Marine Day, to celebrate the seas and oceans).

My School's Closing Ceremony before summer break

Summer vacation is very different for students in Japan compared to where I'm from in the U.S. and perhaps quite different than Western countries in general. It's relatively short in Japan, spanning just about one month (July 22 to August 26th at my school). Whereas in the U.S. a small number of students must attend summer school as a result of poor grades or bad behavior, many Japanese students must come every day for the club activities or studying. 

Baseball team on the field

Club activities (部活動, or bukatsudou) refer to the school's sports teams as well as other clubs like drama club or chorus. Students' commitment to these activities, even if motivated by the expectations placed on them, is very impressive. Most students come to school early in the morning and practice all day until the early afternoon. For example, the tennis team has practice every day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with one lunch break. That's 5 hours of practice, every day, during summer vacation. This doesn't include the piles of homework they are required to complete during the break. Not only students, but teachers also have to work hard during the vacation. Nearly all teachers are required to also coach/manage the various club activities, without any extra salary given to them. 

Student practicing hurdles

Yet the break is still nice for everyone, of course. The school atmosphere is much more free and relaxing. Students aren't sitting at their desks trying to stay awake, teachers can come to school later and leave a little earlier, teachers don't have to wear typical work clothes and students don't have to wear their school uniforms. And for me, it gives me a chance to watch the clubs practice and chat with students more casually. In particular though, my work focuses on helping students practice for the upcoming English Speech Contest.

The English Speech Contest is a yearly event that takes place in early September. Each school can select up to one student from each grade to participate in the recitation section, and one student from any grade to compete in the original speech section (for a maximum of four total students per school).  I've been meeting with my students very often this summer because not only do I want them to have confidence and perform well, but it's also pretty fun for me too! After selecting the participants and speeches, I made sure they understood the broad meaning and individual sentences in their particular readings/speech. Now I'm focusing on pronunciation and building their confidence. The next step will be working on rhythm, fluency, and intonation. Finally, I'll work with them on their stage presence, volume, etc. It's a lot of work but I enjoy it!