“Namaco” - Sea Cucumber

Aomori is famous for apples, but also “namaco” (sea cucumber) is quite famous that the catch is more than 1,200t every year.

Namaco is echinoderm same as sea urchin and starfish, and it’s consumed raw or people enjoy namaco soup or namako porridge using dried namaco.

There’s “Aomori Namaco Branding Council” to promote consumption of sea cucumbers, and they sell various products out into the market. Here are some of them.

Pancake

Looks like a namaco a bit.

With sesame paste filling.

Stickers: kids might feel familiar to namaco?

Fan

Post-it: very useful in the office

Cell-phone strap: real dried sea cucumber!

Cell-phone strap: (lucky charm) contains dried

sea cucumber powder



Black for oily skin, blue for dry skin and green for sensitive skin.

You can get these goods at ASPAM, Aomori Prefecture Tourist Center.

ASPAM: 1-1-40 Yasukata, Aomori-shi, Aomori Prefecture

Aomori Sightseeing Guide "apti net" : http://en.aptinet.jp/ 

Beech Forest in Mt. Hakkoda

There’s a world heritage site Shirakami Sanchi in the western part of Aomori Prefecture, and besides Shirakami, there are other places you can see beautiful beech forest in Aomori. ☆Photo courtesy by TK. Maeda

Photo taken on May 20th.

One of them is located along Prefectural Route 40 in Mt. Hakkoda (takes about 50 minutes from city central and no public transportations to get there).

  

It’s not certain that a hole around the foot of the tree

is caused by stem temperature or wind.



This is another beautiful scenery in Mt. Hakkoda, Tsuta-numa (numa=marsh). There are 7 marshes in this area, and you can enjoy 90-minute walk along the track surrounding the marshes.

Pretty azalea was in bloom.

In Tsuta, you can also enjoy hot spring staying at “Tsuta Hot Spring Inn” selected as one of Japan’s 100 Best Hot Spring. Unfortunately, there were no photos this time, but I bet it’s a must-visit place if you come to Aomori.

Aomori Sightseeing Guide "apti net": http://en.aptinet.jp/

Apple Soft Ice Cream

Another soft ice cream.

At ASPAM, Aomori Prefecture Tourist Center, you can enjoy the taste of Aomori.

Aomori is quite famous for apples that more than half the apples produced in Japan come from Aomori. There are heaps of various apple products and this ice cream is one of them. It’s soft-served and vanilla and pure apple syrup taste, and chopped fresh apple at the bottom of the cup with apple syrup again. Needless to say, it's delicious!!

Besides apple ice cream, you can also try “scallop soft ice cream” at another shop in ASPAM. I’ve never tasted it before so that I can’t say it’s good or not. If you want to try, please drop in at ASPAM.

Aomori Sightseeing Guide "aptinet":  http://en.aptinet.jp/

Very Proud of Cherry Blossoms.

I went to Hirosaki Park on May 6, to see cherry blossoms, but unfortunately, because of the bad weather on previous days, blossoms of Somei Yoshino (the most popular and common cherry blossoms) had already fallen.  Blossoms had gone away from the trees, but you could still enjoy their petals on the ground.  As the color of petals are rather white than pink, it looked like snow.

     

Oldest Somei Yoshino in Japan.

If you wish to see the tree in full bloom,

go to the older post of April.



  

There’re about 2600 cherry trees of 50 kinds, and here you can see some of them.

Yae Benishidare

Yae – double flowering/beni – red/shidare – weeping/

(When other words come prior to “sakura”,

the sound and letter of “s” changes to “z”.)

Yae Benishidare, close-up

Ukon-zakura

“Ukon” means turmeric.  The name comes from

the color of turmeric’s yellow.

Oshima-zakura

“Oshima” is the name of the largest island of Izu Islands.



Yokohama Hizakura

“Hi” of “hizakura” means scarlet.



Yokohama Hizakura, close-up

Azuma-nishiki

“Azuma” means east, “nishiki” means brocade.

Azuma Nishiki, close-up

Ume (plum) blossom

Thickest cherry tree in Japan
(5.37m in diameter, estimated 100~120 yo.)

If you want to know more about Aomori, go and see “aptinet Aomori Sightseeing Guide”. http://en.aptinet.jp/

Donburi Festival

Spring festival is being held at Aomori Prefecture Tourist Center “ASPAM” (where my office is), and one of the main attractions is “Donburi Festival”.  “Donburi”, often called “don” means bowl, and there you can taste various local donburi of Aomori.

“Ochazuke” is cooked rice with hot soup stock or green tea, and what I had for lunch today is “ochazuke-don”, garnished with boiled oratorias, chopped Japanese parsley, pickled radish, shredded fried egg, “nori” (seaweed) and wasabi.  As oratorias are caught only in spring, Aomori people enjoy them at hanami (cherry-viewing).

350 yen

There are 13 other bowls, but unfortunately, you cannot eat them all at one time.

Spring festival at ASPAM closes on May 6^th.

Cherry blossoms, just around the corner.

I'm Felicia from Aomori, Japan.
Aomori is a northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, and in Aomori,
cherry blossoms are to bloom very shortly.

For those who can't wait for the best time to view blossoms, here are
some photos taken in Hirosaki Park (Hirosaki City) last year. 
The weather wasn't that good then, but cherry blossoms were still beautiful.

Oldest Yoshino (Someiyoshino) in Japan

Shidarezakura (weeping cherry blossom)

Shidarezakura in closeup

Cherry blossoms and Hirosaki Castle
(photo courtesy of city of Hirosaki)

West moat

In this blog, I’ll introduce bits and pieces of something interesting, beautiful, yummy, funny, great and exciting in Aomori.  Hope someone gets interested in my loving hometown.