Akita

A while ago, Ingrid's host professor Shigeto invited us to dinner at his place. It was a very nice evening, and he served exclusively specialites of his home prefecture, Akita. So after such an evening of propaganda we decided we should visit in the first half of March.

Apparently in Akita there are two demons, one red and one blue. If you are a good child they bring you gifts. If you are bad, they menace you with a knife! It's like Santa Claus on hard mode! We might have got the story wrong, but this is the red one, seen in painting in our hotel.

The town we stayed in is called Kakunodate. Among other things it is famous for the avenue of cherry trees along the riverside. In sakura season this is apparently very nice. However that was still in the future when we visited.

Kakunodate is exceptionally well-preserved. We were told it is the "lucky town" because it has suffered no disasters, and still retains many original buildings from the Edo period. Notably a collection of "Samurai Houses" which still belong to the (formerly) noble families who made them more than 200 years ago.

We visited a couple of samurai houses. This one, Aoyagi, had an excellent small collection of various historical artefacts. This armour was a highlight, but they also had a collection of early 20th century photos of Tokyo (why?) and the former samurai lord's record collection.

Ingrid got to try on a samurai helmet. This is the new look when we move back to Glasgow.

Spotted near the railway station, we believe this is a historical steam engine. Hard to say.

We took a train ride to the next town over, Tawazako, to see the famous Lake Tawaza.

You can't see it in the picture, but there is snow on this beach.

We had a lunch at a cavernous brewery. Local beer -- very nice. Views -- even nicer.

Waited for the bus next to this magnificent old cedar tree.

And finally, the real reason we came to Akita: to eat kiritampo nabe! "Tampo" is a kind of cooked rice cake on a stick; when you cut it up it becomes "kiritampo". "Nabe" is a kind of chicken soup. Put them together: kiritampo nabe! This is the mind virus that Shigeto passed on to us... it was delicious. Also, in this same dinner, possibly the best yakitori I have ever eaten in my life.

Did I mention that the Akita shinkansen is red?