Snapshot Saturday #7 - Thanksgiving Dinner in Aomori (11/28)

In the morning starting at 9:00AM, we helped make Thai Green Curry for the Global Party which collaborated with the volunteer group for an event hosting university exchange students from Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Taiwan. There were only 3 of us Americans here including myself. We met a lot of new people and added them on LINE.

Kelsey and I testing out the Thai Curry as we just about finish cooking the meal. It was delicious, Reminded me of home oddly enough.

Late Thanksgiving dinner @ Masako's house on 11/28. Card games were going on on the left, while dinner was just behind the wall to the right. There was mashed potatoes, mac 'n' cheese, turkey, cranberry jelly, and other traditional foods! Felt like an authentic Thanksgiving Day dinner. Definitely needed this to recharge my batteries.

Snapshot Saturday #6 - Lucky Perriot Burgers and Goryōkaku in Hakodate 「ラッキーピエロ」と「五稜郭」(11/21)

*Place Holder* Sorry I didn't write anything!

Snapshot Saturday #5 (11/14) -

Snapshot Saturday #4 - Shirakami Sanchi「白神山地」(11/7)

Today I went to Shirakami Sanchi, which hosts a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I tagged along with two friends, Keita (In the foreground, Nickname: Maru-chan) and Andres (in the background). Maru-chan drove us and we set out to try and see several different places in the area.

At the very start of our hike towards Anmon Falls. This post reads,
｢白神山地世界遺産地域　入口」
(Shirkamisanchi Sekaiisan Chiki. Iriguchi; Shirakami Sanchi World Heritage Area. Entrance)
Thank you Google Translate.

Man-made waterfall also at the very beginning.

Mini panorama of Maru-chan and the trail leading towards the falls. It was a very very easy hike of about 15 minutes.

Both Maru-chan and Andres are photographers, so we took a lot of these kind of photo breaks.

One of my own photos en route to Anmon Falls. Just a small creek waterfall thingy, beautiful nonetheless.

AND WE'VE ARRIVED. Anmon Fals was close due to the cold weather and coming winter.

Near the parking lot, once we returned from the trail, we saw a huge playground resting on a hill with a giant slide. Maru-chan and I braved it. It was actually quite intimidating to look at, but it wasn't as bad as it seemed. The first time I went down, I went way too slow, so I took of my jacket and slid using that.

A photo of what I think is Iwaki River - named after the nearby mountain, Iwakisan (Mt. Iwaki)

Next stop: Nishimeya Village (西目屋村; Nishimeya Mura) where there is a famous waterfall - particularly in Winter - called Chichihoke Taki or Chichihoke Waterfall. I'm not sure what the huge sword symbolized, nor what we were supposed to do with it, if anything. Just to the right of the tip of the sword you can see the shrine area.

The shrine area was only 3 switchbacks from gronud level. The path entrance was just behind the waterfall that you can see just trickling down from the cliff above.

There was A LOT of nationalism going on in the shrine area. There were about 4 of these shrines of different sizes. I wonder what it meant...

After a long day, and a few more stops, we ended up in Goshogowara - a city famous for it's summer festival, tachinebuta.. We were in the city, however, for dinner inside a huge shopping mall called ELM.