Sunday, October 29, 2017

Tohoku 2016 東北の旅 - Yokohama Nanohana Festival 横浜菜の花フェスティバル

Visited 15.05.2016 (Sun)
2019: 18.05.2019 (Sat) - 19.05.2019 (Sun)
http://www.town.yokohama.lg.jp/index.cfm/7,2255,19,html





Memorable. Aomori Prefecture, the northernmost region on Honshu island, bid farewell to cherry blossom season in April and welcomes nanohana otherwise known as rapeseed in May. While planning my itinerary, I found two places where rapeseed blossoming season is celebrated in Tohoku region:

(1) Yokohama-machi 横浜町 in Aomori Prefecture celebrates Nanohana Festival on the third weekend of May.
Facts. Rapeseed plantation is an important agricultural industry in Yokohama-machi. In 2014, 128 hectares of land was dedicated to rapeseed plantation in this town, making here the largest area in the entire Japan. Here, the rapeseed is harvested to produce excellent quality rapeseed oil, a specialty that Yokohama-machi is proud of. 

(2) Chokai Kogen 鳥海高原 in Yuri Honjo 由利本荘市 of Akita Prefecture holds Nanohana Matsuri on the last week of May. 
http://www.yurihonjo-kanko.jp/special/hanameguri/nanohana.html

Happened that Yokohama Nanohana Festival fell on the weekend of my travel period so I went on to research more about the place. After some tweaks in my itinerary and a rough idea on how to get to the event venue by public transportation (trains and buses), I firmed up my plan. After this trip, I have to say that participating in this flower festival was one of the major highlights during my stay in Aomori Prefecture; so memorable that I could still remember the details fondly.





Uncertainty. I started the day extremely early in order to catch the Aoimori Railway train 青い森鉄
道 departing from Hachinohe 八戸駅 at 0649 hrs for Noheji 野辺地駅. From here, I transferred to another local JR train to reach Mutsu Yokohama JR Station 陸奥横浜駅, the train station closest to the event venue. All along, I was a bit worried how I would eventually get to the main site from Mutsu Yokohama station. Firstly, the train station is unmanned with no tourist information center and bus stops nearby. Secondly, the website did not mention whether special bus services would operate between Mutsu Yokohama station and event venue during that weekend. Despite the uncertainty, I kept my fingers crossed, hoping that there would be taxi ferrying passengers between the two places. When the train was closing into Mutsu Yokohama station, I was enthralled to see the green fields transformed into bright yellow colour through the train window.

After disembarking from the train, I followed closely behind a small group of people (whom I believe were like-minded people going to the same location as me, some carrying sophisticated camera equipment) and exited the train station. There were no taxi but a mini bus waiting outside the train station and an usher inviting us to hop onto it. I boarded the bus aimlessly and heaved a sigh of relief when I found out that this bus was actually heading for the event venue. During the two day festival period, buses, which coincide with train arrival/departure timings, were arranged to ferry visitors between both sites at stipulated timings. Off we went to see the pretty flower fields!








Engulfed! Look at the "field", look at how they shine for you, and everything you do, yeah they were all yellow. This exact words came into my mind immediately upon stepping foot onto the event venue. For a moment, I could not believe my eyes when I stood in front of the breathtaking landscape. The view was so stunning and gorgeous. I was almost engulfed by the rapeseed plants, which were slightly over half of my height, covered with blooming bright yellow flowers. Facing east, tall windmills appear in the backdrop of the vast yellow fields, harnessing the power from the strong wind that swept past the Shimokita Peninsula.













Amazed by maze. How about walking in a maze made up of rapeseed flowers? This is a major highlight of Yokohama Nanohana Festival and the maze takes on a different theme/design every year. It was the year of Summer Olympics on the year of my visit and the five interlaced rings symbol formed the maze route. An observatory was also strategically situated in the field for visitors to capture a panoramic overview of the work of art at an elevation. Was beaming from ear to ear while walking through the route created in the yellow field, stopping every now and then to soak myself into this beautiful scenery. Volunteers were stationed at different parts of the field to guide visitors; one of them approached me to have a casual conversation and even offered to take a photo of me being surrounded by the pretty flowers especially when such scenery was hard to come by.

Look at the symbolic interlaced rings of Olympics! 

Lost in the maze. Maze route could be seen clearly from the observatory. 


The Katakana characters representing Yokohama ヨコハマ were also marked out by the bright yellow rapeseed flowers.

Marathon was the other main event that takes place on Sunday, the second day of Nanohana Festival, attracting around 10,000 runners yearly. Headed down to the bazaar to take a look at what was in store there after coming out of the maze successfully. Most of them were food stalls and the entire compound was bustling with people. Had a spring roll filled with apple and custard before I finally bade farewell to the festival.

Starting line for the marathon. 

Bazaar bustling with crowd. 

Hope to come back here again!

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Yokohama Nanohana Festival 横浜菜の花フェスティバル
Takes place on the third weekend of May.
Admission fee to Nanohana Maze 菜の花大迷路 = 100 yen




How to get there? 

(1) Train followed by bus.

- During the weekend when the festival is held, free shuttle bus service operates between Mutsu Yokohama JR Station 陸奥横浜駅 and the event venue at stipulated timings.
Shuttle bus timing (subjected to changes): http://www.town.yokohama.lg.jp/index.cfm/7,5241,19,html

- If you are coming before and after the festival period, take Shimokita Kotsu Bus Noheji line 下北交通バス 野辺地線 from Noheji Ekimae 野辺地駅前 and alight at Mameda 大豆田, the bus stop along Highway 279 nearest to the event venue. Takes about 15 - 20 minutes to walk from here to the final destination. On the return trip, I took the bus from Mameda to Noheji instead of waiting for the free shuttle service heading for Mutsu Yokohama.
Bus schedule (Nohenji line): http://www.0175.co.jp/s/s-bus/noheji.pdf


Keep a lookout for this bus stand and shelter.

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