Any good story starts with a place that someone, usually the main character of the story, has an important connection to. Many times it is a home-type situation for the character until they embark on their journey which shows them where they actually need to be. Aomori was the journey I embarked on, but it also marks "the start" for me. Without exaggeration, it honestly has completely turned my life around.
For those of you who have never heard of Aomori (don't worry, neither had I until I was chosen to go there), it is located on the most Northern part of the main island (Honshû) in Japan. Just beneath Hokkaido, it usually isn't considered a worthwhile tourist stop except for maybe during its most important and well-known summer festival in August. There are not too many people living there either, due to heavy snowfall in the winter that sometimes lasts for up to 6 months. It is also home to the biggest? - no, smallest - castle called Hirosaki-jyô of all the castles in Japan. One of the more interesting sites include Sannai-Maruyama, which very recently in 2021 was finally pronounced a UNESCO World Heritage Site, showing a reconstruction of a settling of prehistoric humans during the Jômon-period. It was constructed due to archaeological findings and dates back to roughly 4000~2000 BCE. I have been there multiple times and it is one of the most interesting sites I have ever seen.
(1) Hirosaki castle in 2016; (2,3) Sannai-Maruyama in 2022
Another very interesting site, but inaccessible during the winter months is a place called Osorezan located in the Northern part of Aomori. It literally translates to "fear mountain" and has been believed to be the entrance to the Buddhist hell by people who live around the area. It's not hard to see why once you visit this site for yourself; the sulfuric smell that sorrounds this whole area paired with the incredible colour of the toxic water and the fascinating scenery of the temple area makes you feel like this could actually be the entrance to hell. It really is an amazing place to visit.
Osorezan in 2018
When I was staying in Aomori, I was living in a very small town called Hiranai. Apart from me, there was only one other foreigner currently residing there, she was an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) from America. I wouldn't say that we particularly looked alike, but I do understand why many Japanese people in that town just couldn't keep us apart. We had similarly natural coloured hair as well as a quite similar eye colour. However, she was a lot taller than me, but still, we were getting mixed up all the time.
One thing I wasn't very interested in in the beginning were apples. All throughout the country Aomori is famous for its delicious and high quality apples which people kept (proudly) telling me about. Be that as it may, for me as a German, apples are one of the foods we always had what felt like an abundance of. I don't hate apples, like if they are there, I'll eat them, but they aren't my favourite fruit. So during the beginning of my stay I just didn't get it - what is so special about these apples?
After I had my very first Aomori Apple I finally understood what the hype was about. Additionally, I was even able to visit an Apple Farm and see for myself with how much love and care these apples are produced and harvested. For anyone reading this knowing a little bit about Japanese produce - it's just like with the over-priced strawberries or grapes that you sometimes see people splurge on on social media. If a farmer specializes in one kind of produce, they will do their absolute best to ensure this produce is of the highest quality. Which - in the case of Aomori - includes having only a few apples hanging on each tree so all of the nutrients go to these particular fruits. The result: brightly coloured red, humongous apples with a rich & sweet juicy flavour.
In addition, Aomori is also famous for its garlic, particularly its black garlic. Similar to the apples, the garlic bulbs are huge as well, but still full of flavour. Due do their high price point they unfortunately don't really qualify for everyday cooking and are rather something to be savored on a special occasion.
Apple Farm in Aomori, 2016
On top of apples and garlic, Aomori is also known all over the country to have very heavy dialects, especially the so-called Tsugaru-dialect which - I'm not gonna lie - doesn't really sound like actual Japanese. However, while many people like to make fun of that particular aspect of it, I actually am utterly in love with it. Personally, it makes me laugh and feels so much more relaxed than regular Japanese. I usually tend to describe it as "drunk-person"-Japanese, because it often kind of sounds like a completely passed-out drunk is trying to speak the language - even if that's a little bit of a rude example. Nonetheless, the most important part of the Tsugaru-dialect is the very differing intonation for words in general. This means that even if they use the same words used in general Japanese, they will pronounce them differently. (I'll leave a link to a funny video down below, where a news announcer's reading first in "normal" Japanese and then in three different dialects. Enjoy!) Thanks to this dialect, I personally believe it has been much easier for me to make friends in Aomori. Because they tend to shorten words and aren't as strict about formal speech like with regular Japanese, it has been so much easier to communicate without overthinking what to say and how to say it correctly. I also have the impression that people who live in Aomori are a lot more laid-back and shine through their loyalty. They might seem a little offputting, due to them allegedly acting a little cold at first paired with the unsual way they speak, but once you make friends with them, you've most likely made friends for life. Which is something that really means a lot to me.
My absolute personal highlight of Aomori is its aforementioned summer festival - the Nebuta festival. It is one of the biggest summer festivals in the whole country and peculiar in its own ways. Even though some visitors do wear a Yukata when being a spectator, the traditional wear for the festival is a special kind of Nebuta-Yukata that also enables you to join in on the fun. If you are ever in Japan during the beginning of August, I highly recommend making a detour to Aomori and seeing the festival for yourself, maybe even join in (there are places you can rent the necessary clothing items, without them you're not allowed to participate). I have to warn you though - the hotels around the Aomori area are usually booked up almost a year in advance, so there won't be any last-minute hotel check-ins.
The Nebuta that won the Grand Prize in 2022
(photo scan from a calender, shot by photographer Mitsuhiro Wada)
You might be wondering - how did I even end up in Aomori and why did I start out my Alphabet Superset with this topic? Well, to answer the second question, it seems kind of obvious since the regions name starts with the letter "A". However, that's not the only reason I wanted to share with you the area I have grown most attached to in all of the world. It just so happens that the place I love and love to talk about the most starts with the letter "A" - I simply got lucky! And it felt like a sign to get involved in this challenge. It couldn't have been a better fit in my opinion.
As for the answer of the first question, I'd need to dig a lot deeper and tell you a longer story, which I might do on another day, but for now let me just give you a quick run-down on how I fell in love with this prefecture.
I started studying Japanese after I visited Japan in 2014 for the first time, joining a 2-week voluntary program with an added 1 week of the obligatory ÔsakaKyôtoTôkyô-Tour that almost every foreigner goes on. Additionally I began to work, so I could save up for another voluntary program that'd last for a whole year. The only thing I really asked for was a project that was more on the countryside, so I didn't really think about what or where Aomori was, I just accepted once I was given the opportunity. After being rejected by the organization who runs the programs once, I was finally able to leave Germany behind and stay in Aomori from 2016 to 2017. Many experiences were made there - good as well as bad, even ranking up to horrible. Still, that year was honestly one of the best years of my life. Even amongst the horrific things I had to endure, the positive memories I was able to make were life-changing for me, even up to this day. For example, it was the very first time in my life that I had a birthday party with only women attending. Better yet, it was even planned by them, a fun barbeque get-together with all the friends I had made in Aomori. This might seem kind of stupid to some of you reading this, but for me it has always been hard to make female friends. I unfortunately never got to experience being part of all-girls friendgroups, and even when I did, I was often treated like that one friend that most didn't want to have around, but felt like they "had to" invite - until I "did something wrong" and then they finally had a reason to never invite me again. The women I met in Aomori however never gave me this feeling, not even once. I was sorrounded by these wonderful people who really showed that they cared for me, and not because they "had to", but because they simply enjoyed my company. This became even more apparent when on the day I had to leave to go back to Germany, 13 people showed up at the airport to say goodbye to me, even though the airport was more than a 40-minute drive away from the city and up to an hour drive from the small town I used to live in. Even if leaving itself left me with one of the worst feelings I ever had, I didn't cry until I landed back in Germany thanks to the love I had received from these 13 individuals taking time out of their day to say goodbye to me.
Two of my closest friends, waving goodbye at the plane I boarded omw back to Germany, 2017 (Yes, I saw them from the window!)
Just one month before I had to leave I met a stranger at a bar. They weren't the first person I had met during my time there, and I had just gotten my heart broken a little time before that, so I didn't think I'd be meeting anyone that I'd actually have a genuine connection with. Three years later, with the Ups and Downs of a long-distance relationship, we tied the knot in 2020 and everyday I'm thankful to have gone to that random bar on that random day where I was able to meet my soulmate. Thanks to that particular tidbit, I have been able to visit Aomori almost every year at least twice. We go up there to stay with my partners family, which has been the most inviting and loving family I could have ever wished for. Obviously, this is one of the reasons I feel so at home up there, because my partners family has become my family as well. I personally have the biggest community I ever had right in Aomori. Not just my partners family, but also my chosen family (very close friends I have made that I visit every year) and obviously my wonderful friends. So it comes as no surprise that I am looking forward to moving back there in the near future and I know that there are people up there who are just as excited about it as I am.
EFA
(total of exactly 11000 characters excluding the photo descriptions)
Thank you so much for reading! If you've enjoyed this, please consider leaving a comment and maybe share with someone who you think this could be interesting for. There will be a lot more about my Life in Japan to follow this, so please stay tuned for whats to come! :)
There are obviously loads of other things to do and see in Aomori prefecture, as well as cultural elements I didn't even touch on, like for example the well-known Lake Towada or the Kokeshi doll I drew on my illustration of Aomori-things (upper right corner). I had to cut down a lot so I wouldn't go over the character limit I had set for myself. If you're interested in more Aomori, I encourage you to look up information online. It really is a wonderful place and I hope, some of you might get to visit it one day!
Interesting links related to this blogpost
The organisation that helped me go to Japan for a 2-week workcamp in 2014 as well as the one year stay in 2016: IJGD (German non-profit organisation aimed towards people who live in Germany, can't recommend them enough - they've changed my life in more than just one way.) Sannai-Maruyama official English website: https://sannaimaruyama.pref.aomori.jp/english/ Japanese article on photographer Mitsuhiro Wada, who shows the love for his home prefecture of Aomori by portraying the beauty of its landscape: https://cameraman.motormagazine.co.jp/_ct/17334840 Nebuta festival official English website: https://www.nebuta.jp/foreign/english.html Information on Osorezan (article in German): https://www.japan.travel/de/de/story/osorezan-in-tohoku/ I also recommend hopping onto Youtube and looking for videos on Osorezan since there have been quite a few made on the topic.
Video with a made-up news story read in different dialects
01:03 - First read in standard "news" Japanese
02:21 - Fukui-dialect
03:44 - Tsugaru-dialect 05:01 - Kansai-dialect 06:35 - Toyama-dialect Hope you enjoyed! It's one of my favourite videos to rewatch, because it's the best example of the Tsugaru-dialect I have been able to find so far.
What a captivating read! Now I really want to visit Aomori 😊 I'm already super excited what the rest of the alphabet will bring!