Akita Furusatomura

One of our friends living in Akita City will be leaving Japan soon. He is an Indian working on a time-limited research project at Akita University in Akita City. Hubby and I met him and his family for the first time in 2014 and we were very happy to meet an Indian family in faraway northern Japan where foreigners are still a rare sight. His family left for India before the winter season probably to avoid the severe cold of Akita. On 11th February, hubby and I hosted a farewell dinner for him at a Nepalese restaurant named Namaste located in Akita City. The restaurant serves Indian as well as Nepalese food. We invited another Indian couple also. We all enjoyed having various kinds of Indian dishes for dinner and it was fun recalling the nice time we had over the last couple of years. We wish him good luck and best wishes for his future endeavors.

Our friend (middle) soon to leave Japan

We all having dinner at a Nepalese restaurant

While having dinner, I remembered about hubby and my trip to a sightseeing place called Akita Furusatomura with our Indian friend who is leaving Japan. It was way back in July 2016, and his wife and young son also had accompanied us. I had completely forgotten about that trip and therefore thought about writing a blog post about Akita Furusatomura today. Akita Furusatomura is located in Yokote City of Akita prefecture. It is an amusement theme park where we can play and learn. The park has various facilities like the Akita Museum of Modern Art, the Wonder Castle, a planetarium, and an exhibition and demonstration of traditional handicrafts facility. In the theme park, we especially focused our visit to the Wonder Castle, which features trick art and indoor playground fun for kids.

On the morning of 16th July 2016, hubby and I first went to Akita City by our car where we picked up our Indian friend and his family and then went to Akita Furusatomura in Yokote City. Akita Furusatomura is located about 75 kilometers southeast of Akita City and is situated near the Yokote junction of the Akita expressway. It took us about 1.25 hours of car ride to reach Akita Furusatomura. We parked our car at a parking lot located outside the theme park. On entering inside the theme park, first we took a ride on a bright red colored train type bus named Choo Choo train. It is very popular with kids and we thought that our friend’s son would like it. We bought 4 tickets each worth 410 Yen for the adults and another ticket worth 200 Yen for the kid for the bus-train ride. When the bus-train started moving we felt the pleasant breeze and enjoyed the short journey inside the theme park. As the bus-train moved along the route, adults as well as children became curious and started wondering out loud about various buildings, play area for kids, and many statues along the way. Fortunately a train guide announced the salient features of each facility in an easy-to-understand manner. It was a fun ride.

Hubby fastening the seatbelt of the son of our Indian friend before starting on our car ride to Akita Furusatomura

Our friend’s wife and son inside Choo Choo train at Akita Furusatomura

I am enjoying the Choo Choo train ride

Next, we went to Akita Museum of Modern Art but decided not go inside the museum building as we thought that the 3-year-old kid will not find it interesting. So we all strolled outside the museum building for quiet some time. It was a cloudy day but we enjoyed the walk surrounded by many huge outdoor statues. I found three statues to be very interesting. One of them was named Koeyoshidori, which is a long-crowing chicken breed of Akita prefecture and is designated as a national treasure of Japan. The statue was sculpted by Aikawa Zenichiro in 1952. It is 1.1 meters high and looks majestic and cheerful. The second statue was named Daichi no Kodo which was sculpted by Ando Izumi in 1993. It is a statue of a huge mammoth and measures 3.5 meters high. This statue was constructed using forged copper plates by hammering them several thousands of times. The third set of statues was named Inu mo Arukeba. This set of statues was sculpted by Yabuuchi Satoshi in 1993. All the statues in this set are 79 centimeters high and is a playful work with the motif of Akita dogs. This set of statues has a sense of continuity as if a dog is walking. Children as well as adults enjoy riding them. We enjoyed taking a stroll outside the museum building and took several photos of us with a few of the statues.

We all are strolling outside the museum building in Akita Furusatomura

Hubby, our friend and his son enjoying a walk

Hubby and our friend’s son enjoying a walk

Statue of Koeyoshidori as viewed from two different angles

Our friend and his family standing in front of the statue of a huge mammoth

Hubby and I standing in front of the mammoth

We all enjoyed riding the statues of Akita dogs

Hubby sitting on a statue of Akita dog and clicking photos

Afterwards we temporarily left Akita Furusatomura premises to have lunch at a Nepalese restaurant located about 8 kilometers south of the Furusatomura. The restaurant serves Indian as well as Nepalese food. We enjoyed having various kinds of Indian dishes. Hubby especially loved having cheese Naan which came with his set menu. We were quite full and satisfied with the lunch. After lunch, we returned to Akita Furusatomura and entered the local handicrafts, food, and gift shops. It was nice to look at all the handicrafts but we did not buy anything. In addition, we skipped visiting the planetarium as there was not enough time to visit all the facilities of Akita Furusatomura that day itself.

My lunch that I had at a Nepalese restaurant located in Yokote City

Hubby’s lunch set

Hubby enjoying having Cheese Naan

Our friend and his family enjoying lunch

I am standing with our friend’s wife and son inside the local handicrafts, food, and gift shop at Akita Furusatomura

Next we visited Wonder Castle building located inside Akita Furusatomura premises. Wonder Castle has an exhibition of illusion type pictures and a lot of trick arts. This place is ideal for kids as well as families. At the first floor entrance area of the building, we bought tickets worth 520 Yen for the adults and it was free for the kid. First we went to the fourth floor of the building and enjoyed being inside the Mirror Room and the Giant’s Room. Next, we saw a wonderful trick art area named ‘The World above the Clouds’ where we enjoyed ‘balancing’ ourselves while coming out of a castle located amongst the clouds. We also enjoyed flying like a bird amongst the clouds in this area. Then we went inside the Slanting Room also located on the fourth floor. It is a gravity hill type distorted room that is used to create tilt-induced visual illusion. We really loved this room where the rules of gravity did not seem to apply as we expect them to. Once we stepped inside this room, we felt as if we had abandoned all sensations of balance, proprioception, and general physical stability. Thanks to the architectural trickery, it felt as if we could tilt our bodies unrealistically in this room. We loved being in this room and it is no wonder that the Slanting Room is the most popular corner of the Wonder Castle. Afterwards we went to the third floor of the building where more trick arts and optical illusions were present. We enjoyed tightrope walking, cage for human, pulling a portable Mikoshi Shrine, and Ames Room at this floor. I loved the optical illusion of the Ames Room very much where hubby standing in one corner of the room appeared to be a giant while I standing in the other corner appeared to be a dwarf to the our friend photographer standing outside the room. The illusion was so convincing that hubby walking back and forth from the left corner to the right corner appeared to grow or shrink. It was really impressive optical illusion. At this point, the exhibition of various trick arts and optical illusions were over. We adults enjoyed looking at various trick arts and loved the place more than the kid. I guess we adults are still kids at heart!

Our friend’s wife and I inside the Mirror Room

I am standing inside the Giant’s Room

We are the food for the Giant

We are ‘balancing’ ourselves while coming out of a castle located amongst the clouds

I am flying amongst the clouds

Wondering how hubby can tilt his body so much inside the Slanting Room

Well, I can tilt my body too

I am a tightrope walker

I am inside a cage for human

I am pulling a Mikoshi Shrine

Hubby is a giant and I am a dwarf inside Ames Room

Our friend and his family inside Ames Room

Afterwards we returned to the first floor inside the Wonder Castle building where we saw a giant ball pool. Our friend’s kid became very excited seeing the ball pool filled with colorful balls. The kid, his mother, and I had so much fun playing in the ball pool. We spent about 40 minutes at the ball pool. The amusement park closes at 5 pm and so the kid very reluctantly left the ball pool area where he seemed to have maximum fun.

I am playing in the ball pool

I am playing with the kid in the ball pool

The kid, his mother, and I having fun in the ball pool

Tired hubby and our friend taking rest while we played in the ball pool

We all had a nice time at Akita Furusatomura and left the premises at about 5 pm. We then took our friends back to their home in Akita City. It was about 7.30 pm when we returned to our home in Yurihonjo City. It was a fun filled outing with friends.

Winter months in Akita

It is now winter and snowing heavily almost every day in Akita prefecture. Most days I am unwell due to the cold weather. Everyday I think of writing the next post for my blog but somehow keep postponing it. In this post, I will write about the nature and weather of Akita for the past three months or so.

On the evening of 14th November 2016, hubby and I visited Hamadate Koen Park to see the supermoon that day. The park is located on a hill in Nishime Town of Yurihonjo City in Akita prefecture. As we all know, the full moon of 14th November was a supermoon. Supermoon is the full moon when it is at its closest point to our planet as it orbits earth. In fact, the full moon of 14th November was not only the closest full moon of 2016 but the closest full moon to earth since 1948. The supermoon of 14th November was considered an astronomical event of 2016 because the full moon was 356509 kilometers away from the earth, and appeared up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than an average full moon. This full moon was called extra-supermoon and we will not see another such supermoon again until 25th November 2034. Although a supermoon is bigger and brighter than a normal full moon, it is not always easy to tell the difference. A 30% difference in brightness can easily be masked by clouds or the competing glaring lights of the city area. So, as written earlier, hubby and I went to a small hill in Hamadate Koen Park at about 8 pm. The park is isolated and located in a place with hardly any inhabitants around. It was pitch dark and an ideal place to view the supermoon. That day the weather was cloudy in entire Japan and the supermoon was actually seen only in Akita and Aomori prefectures. Although it was cloudy in Akita prefecture also, the full moon peeked from the clouds from time to time. We were fortunate to be able to see the supermoon as the weather cooperated at the time we went to the park. We loved seeing the stunning full moon hanging high overhead. But with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, the size of the supermoon looked much like any other normal full moon though we felt that the moon was brighter and more yellowish that day. Hubby clicked a few photos of the supermoon for the sake of memories.

The full moon almost covered with clouds

The full moon peeking from the clouds

The supermoon

The supermoon looked fabulous and yellowish

Hubby clicking away on the pitch dark hill of Hamadate Koen Park

Next, I will write about winter in Akita prefecture. Winters in Akita prefecture are reputed to be among the snowiest and coldest in Japan. Winter season is rather long and too severe here which starts around November and continues until the end of March. There is almost continuous snowing from December through March. The temperature stays at sub-zero levels throughout the months of January and February. This year it started snowing in the beginning of December. But it stopped snowing during the year end, only to again snow heavily and continuously after that. On 14th January, hubby and I wanted to go to Akita City to do some shopping. But there was snowstorm that day in Akita and the neighboring prefectures, and therefore it was tremendously windy with continuous heavy snowfall throughout the day. So we just stayed indoors and watched some television programs. However the snowing became lighter by evening, and we decided to use that opportunity to go to Akita City. It had snowed heavily the previous night also, and hubby had a tough time to remove the huge amount of snow that had accumulated on his car parked at the open parking area in front of our home. He removed the snow for almost half an hour in such severe cold conditions, and I really respect him for that. On our way to Akita City, we saw blankets of heavy snow all around us. There was deep snow on the mountains and everything seemed to be purified and white in color. Although the nature looks so beautiful during snowy season, I really dislike the cold weather. I am just waiting for this cold wintry season to be over.

Snowy view in our neighborhood

Snow everywhere near our home

Whiteness all around our home

Our car covered in snow

Another view of our car covered in snow

Hubby busy removing snow from the car

Pure whiteness all around me

Everything covered in snow on our way to Akita City

Akita prefecture usually has cloudy or overcast freezing cold days with heavy snow and no sunshine during the long winter months from December through March. But miraculously on 7th and 8th January, it did not snow at all and the sun shone brightly both the days. Hubby and I decided to use this wonderful opportunity to go outside on 8th January, and view the beautiful nature of Yurihonjo City and the neighboring Nikaho Town. We went for a drive by our car, and it felt so different to see the city and its neighborhoods on a clear shiny winter day. Everything seemed so clear and pure. We noted that in just two days of sunshine, so much snow had melted away from the rooftops of homes and apartments. The snow had also melted from almost all the roads as well as from various vast plain areas like unused paddy fields. Of course the faraway mountains were still covered in snow. We stopped our car near an overbridge and got out for some time to take in the beautiful stunning views all around us. Although it was a shiny day, it was bone-chilling cold outside but we enjoyed looking at all the natural wonderful sceneries. Standing on the overbridge, hubby clicked a few photos of the nature, paddy fields, and the windmills. We also got a beautiful view of the snow-covered Mount Chokai. Afterwards we continued our car ride for some more time to enjoy looking at the beautiful nature.

Beautiful nature as viewed from our car

We parked our car to appreciate the nature

Wonderful view as seen from an overbridge

Mountains and unused paddy fields as viewed from the overbridge

Highway and the nature as viewed from the overbridge

Yet another view of the nature as seen from the overbridge

I am standing on the overbridge

Highway and the nature as viewed from the other side of the overbridge

Hubby clicking photos standing on the overbridge

A windmill

Snow covered Mount Chokai, windmills, and snowy fields

A beautiful view

We are now in the peak of cold snowy winter in Akita and we are eagerly waiting for the arrival of spring season.