Aomori, Tohoku

Artwork on the floor @Towada Art Centre

Recently, in the middle of March, 2012, I managed to go to Tohoku and Tokyo partly on business but mostly for pleasure. I left Fukuyama, Hiroshima Pref. in the evening of March 11, exactly one year after the Great East Japan Earthquake took place. 


I finished the job in Fukuyama and took the Sanyo Shinkansen Nozomi super-express bound for Tokyo. Then I changed trains to go to Ikebukuro, thirty minutes by train from Tokyo Station. There I took an overnight express bus to Ichi-no-seki, Iwate, Tohoku. I arrived there a little before 5:00 am and waited in a convenience store (I chatted with a good-hearted gentleman working for the store) and then a waiting room of the railway station before taking a train to Hiraizumi. Within a matter of ten minutes, I arrived at Hiraizumi Station. I spent a day in Hiraizumi but another article will be written about it and its world cultural heritage.  


This is the first article reporting the journey to Tohoku and only a brief introduction of things in Aomori, the northernmost prefecture in Honshu island. This year, I'm planning to go back to Tohoku at least twice, once for my research and the other on business. I might go more if circumstances allows. 



I had three architectural works of interest in mind in Aomori and am happy to say I managed to cover them all. However, due to deposited snow, I didn't really see the whole constructions. Part or most of them were covered with snow. Still I didn't really mind because snow is part of Aomori and architecture should get along with the local climate. Besides snow makes fantastic scenery. 

Aomori Museum of Art

The Aomori Museum of Art designed by AOKI Jun was the first of the three I visited. Half or more of the buildings and premises were under the snow. But the Aomori Ken (Aomori Dog) was pretty, sitting in the snow calmly capped with a bit of snow.

Aomori Ken @ Aomori Museum of Art

The center is on the grounds of Aomori Public College

The Aomori Contemporary Art Centre designed by ANDO Tadao was the second but that was mostly besieged with snow and I barely saw the architecture. It was almost a joke but I learned how deep the snow in Aomori could be even in the middle of March so it was a good lesson. 

Flower Horse & Museum Wings/Corridor @ Towada Art Center

The last in Aomori was the best of all: Towada Art Center designed by NISHIZAWA Ryue. Gees he's a genius. I went there after an unexpectedly heavy snow surprised Hachinohe and the places nearby including Towada. The roads from JR Sichinohe-Towada Station where I rented a car to the museum as well as the premises and surroundings of the museum were again filled with snow. But snow is part of their life and it can highlight the artworks though some of them were totally buried beneath the snow. No problem. I can always imagine. They are waiting for the advent of spring. Just natural.

Nebuta Float

In addition to exploring these architectural works, I walked around Aomori Station and saw magnificent floats used for Nebuta festival in the Nebuta museum called Warasse. I saw more including the bay and the sea and I ate good things like scallops from the local waters.


I loved the hotel I stayed in Aomori: Hotel Passage ( one of the Hyper Hotels Passage). It only cost 4500 yen a night including very healthy breakfast with a wide variety of dishes. The room was square and looked cozy, where you'd like to work on your things. It was quite comfortable with a partition between the toilet/washstand area and the Japanese style bathroom (equipped with a deep bathtub, a washing area, a shower, and a faucet). Of course, amenities were good. Free coffee in the lounge and you can pick up extra toiletries at the lobby in addition to those already set in the room.  It was three minutes' walk from JR Aomori Station. I can live there for quite a while. And fortunately a food market is in the basement of a nearby shopping building. People working there were cheerful, inviting shoppers to sample their food while speaking in the local accent.


More photos of Towada Art Center. Please take a look.

Just generous: artworks part of the city !

Chasing somebody?

The square in front of the museum.
Snow will be gone soon.

KUSAMA Yayoi works

Fat House & Fat Car
Go in the house. She talks.

See the floor. I'm on top of the artwork,
about to eat bread & soup. 

Tomo's Hina dolls

Tomo's Vanity Dolls (the large couple) and lots more

As I mentioned in the previous article, Tomo's merchant families had elaborate Hina dolls not only for the healthy growth and happiness of their daughters but also for the prosperity of their family business. Some families bought the dolls even though they didn't have girls in their family. For them, the Hina dolls were something like good-luck talismans. 

Paper Cutout of Vanity Dolls

The families prepared the so-called Vanity Dolls to demonstrate their family wealth and tradition. The dolls wear  many layers of exquisite clothing  and the sleeves of the empress dolls had to be long and graceful. The photo is one example of this type of dolls. Also posted is a photo of an artistic paper cutout modeled on the same dolls made by a cutout artist living in Kure, Hiroshima but originally from Hanamaki, Iwate in Tohoku.




The photo below is simply heart-wrenching 'cause they are from the earthquake-affected area. They survived the disasters in 2011 and came over this far to Tomo-no-ura, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima for some strange connection and displayed at the Higo-ya house. For the time being until March 11 when Tomo's Hina dolls public display is over, you can go inside Tomo's traditional houses where the dolls including this pack are displayed.