Exploring Misawa City

Sunday, August 1: Exploring Misawa's backroads

Today we decided to get up early and stay “in-house” to explore local sites.

Bego-Jaga (Beef & Potato) Festival
Usually held on the first Sunday of August

Tonami Clan Memorial Tourist Village, located on the outskirts of Misawa City, commemorates the first modern Western farm in Japan. The Bago-Jaga Festival is one of the four summer festival is Misawa City and held at the Tonami Clan Memorial Tourist Village (AKA Misawa City Farm). Attendees can enjoy barbecue of delicious Aomori Beef along with fresh vegetables just reaped at local farms. Activities and games for children include treasure hunt, hay rolling, tractor rides, potato digging, and milk tasting. We initially went to the festival so our son could get a glimpse of the animal farm/petting zoo. However, we arrived a little too early and that section was still closed. Therefore, we decide to leave the sun’s heat and humidity for air conditioning and headed to a nearby museum.

This is the third time I've seen this jumper at a festival. I have all the usual festival shots and was uninspired (due to heat and humidity) to take photos here.

Misawa Aviation and Science Museum

What surprised me the most about the museum was the grounds on which it is kept. There is a large grass field and playground for children to play. Inside the museum visitors will see an Aviation Zone, Science Zone, Children’s Square, and special exhibit. The Aviation Zone serves as an aviation museum, introducing aircraft and aviation history related to Aomori Prefecture. It also includes a replica of Miss Veedol, the first plane to fly non-stop across the northern Pacific Ocean (1931). In the Science Zone, attendees experience science technology through bodily-kinesthetic opportunities, consisting of flight simulators, wind tunnels, and other mechanisms. Children's Square houses a large playset specially designed for preschool children. In addition, the museum holds a separate room for special, limited-run exhibits (which costs ¥600 extra). Museum entrance costs ¥500.

Planes and jets outside museum

Museum entrance

On occasion, free train rides outside museum

Flying machine shaped like the double helix of DNA molecule

Details - everything made from wood, gears, chains, etc.

In the cockpit

Statue of Liberty, Aomori-ken

For some strange reason, there are hundreds of Statues of Liberties that have been created worldwide. In fact, Japan has three of them, 1) Odaiba, near Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo, 2) American Village in Osaka, and 3) in Shimoda (now called Oirase Town), near Misawa, which is on parallel 40°N – the same latitude as NYC. We decided to visit it because we had nothing better to do. Lady Liberty, made of fiber reinforced plastics, stands at one-fourth the size of its NYC counterpart: total height 20.8m, 9.3m base, and 11m statue. Jogging trails, a small lake, children’s play ground, and a Japanese-only cafe also inhabit the park surrounding the statue.

Momoishi Park Map

These strategically-placed cut-outs seem to pop up often in Japan

Replica looks good but not made out of copper

Trying to include myself and daughter in more photos

Random Photos

These are images we saw along our drive today. I should have marked on what roads they were taken.

I have this liking for Godzilla. I don't know why car dealerships have them on their lots, but this is the second one I've seen. To top it off,the car sign in front of it reads, Umax Cute. Now if only I could find a lot that has both Godzilla and King Kong.

I never heard of Gundam, but apparently it's popular out here. The large figures were outside a barber shop. It was just so random. When it initially caught my peripheral vision, I thought they were Transformers.

The barrel of the gun is some sort of hose that might squirt out to traffic. The eyes of each figure had red LED lights. This proprietor even had gnomes in the shrubs behind Gundam.

Another fascination of mine, gnomes and dwarfs.

Wouldn't have noticed this cake shop except for the attention grabber - a huge cake in the parking lot.