Coordinates: 40.6074516, 140.4641804

I meant to write this much sooner, but it's been really busy. All the festivals have begun, as the spring has slowly begun to fade into summer. But before getting into the crazy of summer, and it is pretty crazy, I wanted to share the cherry blossoms from Hirosaki Castle.

We made our way through the park and decided to get some festival food. There was a huge line for what appeared to be hot coffee on a stick. Coffee jello is really big up here, so I figure it was that. I was wrong.

Mark fared a little better with meat on a stick, tempura fried corn, and a strawberry lollipop aka the filling ripper.

Past all the food, there was a cherry blossom tunnel. Trees lined both sides of the moat, and you could even rent a paddle boat. I told Mark he wasn't a real man unless he took me on a paddle boat. I was joking. He didn't get the memo, so I had to stop him in the middle of the boat rental transaction. I'm sure it would have been fun, but it was kind of cold and rainy that day and I really didn't need to fall in the moat.

Guarding the entrance to the tunnel was a tanuki. A tanuki is a Japanese raccoon dog, which is most known for its huge nuts. They're really big...and comical. 

My Japanese co-worker told me the banner says welcome. 

While the whole point of the festival was the cherry blossoms, Mark was consumed with photographing the Hirosaki ducks. They are some of the most beautiful ducks I've ever seen.

All in all, we were glad we went, even though it was super crowded. Getting there ridiculously early was definitely the right move; we got to enjoy parts of the festival some of our friends who left later didn't. We definitely liked the Chrysanthemum Festival better because the colors were so vibrant. I don't know if we'll be back for the blossoms next year, but we now have one more event checked off on our list!