In early August, Aomori Prefecture in the Tohoku region of Japan hosts the Nebuta & Neputa Festivals, where giant illuminated floats featuring famous warriors and and kabuki actors are paraded through the streets. Accompanied but the thundering sound of beating drums, the music of bamboo flutes and shouts of “rasseera” by Haneto dancers this is […]

Tohoku is Japanese for “northeast” and the region occupies the northern area of honshu, Japan’s main island.  Hokkaido is Tohoku’s neighbor to the north, while Chubu lies to the southeast and Kanto to the southwest.  Six prefectures (provinces or states) make up the the Tohoku region: Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata.  Part 1 […]