Tohoku 2016 東北の旅 - Toyoko Inn Akita Eki Higashi Guchi 東横イン秋田駅東口

Stayed 18.05.2016 (Wed)

Booked thru' hotel website.
Single room = 5,437 yen

Was assigned a room on the 10th floor and was able to capture a good overview of Akita city on the west side of the train station.

Convenient. On Day 7, I made my way to Akita city via Resort Shirakami and stayed overnight at Toyoko Inn  Akita Eki Higashi Guchi which is located on the east side of Akita JR Station. The appearance of this particular branch of Toyoko Inn did not follow its conventional design and colour scheme; looks like a modern commercial building from the outside. The 14 storey tall building which the hotel is housed within is called ALVE アルヴェ, a community center for the local population. However, the internal layout and design breeds familiarity as it is reverted to “Toyoko Inn” style right upon I stepped into the hotel lobby. 

Hotel is highly accessible; upon exiting from the ticket gates of Akita JR Station, the route right up to the hotel entrance is completely sheltered. As compared to the west side of the train station, where shopping malls/departmental stores and a number of places of interest are located at, the east side has more residential development and felt relatively quieter. There were no significant differences in the services provided by this particular branch. In short, this is an inexpensive, no frills hotel and its strategic location facilitates travelling within the city, for both business related and tourism purposes.

Spacious lobby transformed into a breakfast dinning area in the morning.

Entrance to the hotel, on the second floor of the building.

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Toyoko Inn Akita Eki Higashi Guchi 東横イン秋田駅東口
〒010-0002  秋田県秋田市東通仲町4-1
https://www.toyoko-inn.com/search/detail/00087/

How to get there?

(1) 1 minute walk from Akita JR Station East Exit / Higashi Guchi 秋田駅東口. 

Tohoku 2016 東北の旅 - Akita JR Station 秋田駅

Akita inu. Akita JR Station 秋田駅 is the terminus station for Akita Shinkansen line 秋田新幹線 and is also served by Ou main line 奥羽本線, Oga line 男鹿線 and Uetsu line 羽越線. Finally reached the capital city of Akita Prefecture on the midway of my expedition of Tohoku region in May 2016. The first thing that comes to my mind whenever Akita is mentioned, is definitely Akita inu 秋田犬 (dog). The touching story of Hachiko, the loyal and faithful Akita inu who waited for his master’s return everyday at Shibuya Station over a period of nine years, continues to attract many visitors to pay respect to its bronze statue erected at Shibuya Station. Had the opportunity to come up close with Hachiko’s statue on my very first trip to Tokyo in 2011. Odate city 大館市, in Akita Prefecture, is the homeland of Akita inu. Apart from understanding the roots of Akita inu through the local museum, visitors can meet the dogs at various facilities as well. It takes about 1.5 hours by limited express Tsugaru train from Akita to Odate via Ou main line; this is one place I hope to visit on future trips to Japan.
Akita inu no sato / Akita inu museum 秋田犬の里・秋田犬ミュージアム: https://akitainunosato.jp/sp/

Met an Akita inu when I was at Tazawako-han 田沢湖畔.

Trains serving this station include:
(1) Komachi こまち, the high speed train which commutes eastwards for Shizukuishi 雫石駅, Tazawako 田沢湖駅,  Kakunodate 角館駅, Omagari 大曲駅 and ends at Morioka 盛岡駅. Here, the train combines with Hayabusa and continues its journey southwards to Sendai 仙台駅 and Tokyo 東京駅.
(2) Resort Shirakami リゾートしらかみ, is a limited express sightseeing train which commutes between Aomori 青森駅 and Akita 秋田駅 via Ou main line 奥羽本線 and Gono line 五能線. A total of three round trips is made per day (on most days) by a fleet of train comprised of three different themes - Buna 橅, Aoike 青池 and Kumagera くまげら.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/railway/joyful/shirakami.html
(3) Limited Express Tsugaru つがる, commutes between Aomori and Akita via Ou main line 奥羽本線, stopping by Shin Aomori 新青森駅, Hirosaki 弘前駅, Owani Onsen 大鰐温泉駅, Odate 大舘駅and Higashi-Noshiro 東能代駅.

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What's nearby?

(1) Bus terminal, in front of West / Nishi Exit.
Platform #10: for Akita city loop bus Gururu 秋田市中心市街地循環バスぐるる.
A convenient feeder bus service which makes an anticlockwise loop in the city, stopping by places of interest such as Senshu Koen 千秋公園, Neburi Nagashi-kan ねぶり流し館 and Akita Shimin Ichiba / Citizen's Market 秋田市民市場. The buses are separated by 20 minutes interval and the bus fare per trip is 100 yen.
https://www.city.akita.lg.jp/kurashi/kotsu/1012207/1007651.html



(2) Akita city tourist information center 秋田市観光案内所, located within the train station.
Operating hours: 0900 - 1900 hrs

Shopping malls in the vicinity: Fonte on the left and Seibu on the right.

(3) Shopping malls and departmental stores, 1 minute walk from West / Nishi Exit.
There are a couple of shopping malls and departmental stores in the vicinity.
- ALS アルス and Topicaトピカ, both malls are connected seamlessly to the train station. MUJI and 100 yen shop WATTS are housed on the first floor of ALS, while there are restaurants and eateries, which operate till 2200 hrs, on the third floor of Topica.
- Fonte フォンテ , the first shopping mall on the left after taking the descending escalator after exiting from the train station. LOFT is on its second storey while Seria (100 yen shop) occupies the fourth storey.
- Seibu Akita Branch 西武秋田店. This is Seibu's only branch in Tohoku region and is located on the right after exiting from the west exit.







(4) Akita Shimin Ichiba / Citizen's Market 秋田市民市場, the biggest wet and dry market in Akita Prefecture is located 5 minutes walk from West / Nishi Exit. Dropped by the market after breakfast to check out the food/ingredients used by the locals here. Very spacious and well organised market in which the wet and dry areas are separated.
Operating hours: 0500 - 1800 hrs; closed on Sundays.
http://www.akitashiminichiba.com/

(5) Senshu Koen 千秋公園 and Kubota Castle 久保田城, 8 minutes walk from West / Nishi Exit.

(6) Akarenga kyodo-kan / Akarenga Museum 赤れんが郷土館, 15 minutes walk from West / Nishi Exit.

(7) Neburi Nagashi-kan ねぶり流し館, 15 minutes walk from West / Nishi Exit.

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Commemorative stamps:

Tohoku 2016 東北の旅 - Tachineputa Museum 立佞武多の館

Visited 18.05.2016 (Wed)





Aim. Main objective of visiting Goshogawara was to see the city's version of lantern floats used to celebrate Nebuta/Neputa festival. Alongside Aomori and Hirosaki’s Nebuta Festival, Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival is one of top three Nebuta/Neputa festival in Aomori Prefecture during summer. Similar to the concept of Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse ねぶたの家 ワラッセ (situated in Aomori city, a museum which showcases the actual lantern floats that were paraded on the streets), Tachineputa Museum provides opportunity for visitors to come up close to the gigantic lantern floats outside of the festival period. Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival is held between 4 to 8 August. During the festival period, the lantern floats weighing as heavy as 19 tons are unveiled at Tachineputa Museum and are marched through the city at night.

Background. Goshogawara’s version is known as tachineputa, translated to mean “standing Nebuta/Neputa”, because the lantern floats measure 23 m in height (equivalent to a 7 storey building), way taller than Aomori’s equivalent which are only 5 m high. Nebuta Festival was celebrated as early as 1900s and its original intent was to ward off evil / motivate people to pull through the hot summer period. In Goshogawara, wealthy merchants and landlords compete to create the largest lantern float, as a symbol of power and wealth, and this gave rise to giant lantern floats unique to this town. In the olden days, these lanterns which depicted kabuki, gods and mythical characters in folk tales, were illuminated by candles. When electricity became increasingly accessible to people during Taisho era (1912 - 1926), the presence of electric wires/cables obstructed the parade of tachineputa on the street. Subsequently, the blueprints for these lantern floats was said to be destroyed by a huge fire that broke out in town. This resulted in the festival being ceased for a long period of time. It was only until 1993, the photos and blueprints of tachineputa were discovered which sparked its comeback. Restoration of the lantern floats and revival of Nebuta Festival was eventually made possible due to relentless hard work put in by the locals to preserve this cultural festival.

Mind blowing. After my ticket was checked by the staff, my eyes caught sight of the soaring high lantern floats and I felt so puny standing right in front of them! Followed the directional signs and took the elevator to the highest floor where the tour officially began. As I walked along the passageway which spiraled down gently, following the circumference of the museum building, I learnt about the history of the festival and the arduous yet fulfilling process of creating these gigantic lantern floats through the exhibits. At the same time, the layout also allowed visitors to admire three tachineputa, which occupied the center stage, from various angles and from top to bottom clearly. Being a person who love to scrutinise details, my eyes were glued to the vividly coloured and dynamic looking lantern floats at all times, trying to identify the subtle details. The level of details is simply mind blowing; these lanterns are truly a showcase of the locals' borderless creativity and remarkable skills. It is especially heartening to know that this festival, apart from attracting numerous visitors to the city in August, has strengthened the bonds between the locals and created a common entity that the people of Goshogawara can take pride in.

Goshogawara apple! Grabbed my third soft serve for this trip from the museum’s cafe and finally it is an apple flavored one (since Aomori Prefecture is well known for this fruit). There are a variety of apples grown in Aomori Prefecture, but Goshogawara apple ゴショガワラりんご is exclusively harvested in this city only. What makes this apple different from the conventional ones is it is red both on the inside and outside. Outside of its harvesting season in autumn, food products such as juices, sweets and confectionery, manufactured from these apples are available for sale all year round. The Goshogawara apple flavoured soft serve was delicious; love the sweet, tint of sourness and refreshing taste.



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Tachineputa Museum 立佞武多の館
〒037-0063 青森県五所川原市大町506-10
Operating hours: 0900 - 1900 hrs (Apr - Sep); 0900 - 1700 hrs (Oct - Mar)
Admission fee = 600 yen
http://www.tachineputa.jp/

How to get there?

(1) By foot. About 5 minutes walk from Goshogawara JR Station 五所川原駅 / Tsugaru Goshogawara Station 津軽五所川原駅.

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Commemorative stamps:

Tohoku 2016 東北の旅 - Goshogawara JR Station 五所川原駅, Agetai Shop Miwaya あげたいの店 みわや

Goshogawara JR Station 五所川原駅, is a train station on the Gono line 五能線 in Aomori Prefecture. Here, passengers can alight and transfer to Tsugaru Railway line 津軽鉄道 for trains heading southwards to its terminus station of Nakasato 津軽中里駅 in Tsugaru Peninsula. Goshogawara is most well known for its Tachineputa festival 五所川原立佞武多 which is held between 4 to 8 Aug and attracts more than 1 million visitors every year. Apart from that, there is a special type of apple variety named Goshogawara 御所川原 (same pronunciation but different characters) which is exclusively grown in this town. This apple is red both inside out (both the flesh and meat are red) and contains three times more polyphenols (antioxidant) than the normal ones. For those who are unable to catch its harvesting season (in autumn) to taste the fresh fruit itself, soft serve made from Goshogawara apple juice can be enjoyed all year round at the cafe in Tachineputa Museum.

Limited express / sightseeing trains serving this train station include:
(1) Resort Shirakami リゾートしらかみ, a limited express sightseeing train which commutes between Aomori 青森駅 and Akita 秋田駅 via Ou main line 奥羽本線 and Gono line 五能線. A total of three round trips is made per day (on most days) by a fleet of train comprised of three different themes - Buna 橅, Aoike 青池 and Kumagera くまげら.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/railway/joyful/shirakami.html

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What’s nearby?

(1) Tachineputa Museum / Tachineputa no kan 立佞武多の館, about 5 minutes walk from the train station.
Operating hours: 0900 - 1900 hrs (Apr - Sep); 0900 - 1700 hrs (Oct - Mar)
Admission fee = 600 yen
http://www.tachineputa.jp/

Goshogawara Tachineputa 五所川原立佞武多 is one of Aomori’s three largest scale “nebuta” festival held in August. Here, there is a museum in the town dedicated to this important summer festival and for those who are unable to participate in the actual annual event. Gigantic Tachineputa lantern floats, which can go as high as 23 m tall (equivalent to 7-storey building), are put up for display in the museum. Visited this museum when I was in Goshogawara and I was totally awed by the level of details portrayed on these colourful floats. This is a place of interest that should not be missed in Goshogawara.

(2) Agetai Shop Miwaya あげたいの店 みわや, about 7 minutes walk from the train station.
青森県五所川原市字上平井町99
Operating hours: 0930 hrs - Evening or till sold out; closed on 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month

Taiyaki 鯛焼き, a bream fish (called "tai" in Japanese) shaped cake which comes in various fillings (such as red bean paste and custard), is a well known snack that originated from Japan. In Goshogawara, this other version of taiyaki called agetai あげたい is popular among the locals. This snack is created by deep frying taiyaki to crispy golden brown with fine sugar sprinkled on top. How agetai came about is like a Eureka moment - as it was wasteful to throw away the leftover taiyaki, the stall owner decided to deep fry them and the outcome was surprisingly well received, to the point it was elevated to become a specialty snack of Goshogawa. After visiting Tachineputa Museum, I made my way to Miwaya which offers many agetai choices - ordered an agetai filled with red bean paste. At Miwaya, the taiyaki is only sent to the deep frying after an order is placed, to ensure patrons can enjoy fresh and piping hot agetai right at the spot. 

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Commemorative stamps:

Tsugaru Railway Goshogawara Station


Tsugaru Railway Goshogawara Station