With some free time, we headed out to Aomori City. Aomori City is the world’s snowiest city, but luckily, right now, the weather is perfect. We started the day off with a delicious bowl of ramen.

Here we are at a local Aomori City ramen spot where they serve ramen in the local tradition. Aomori City is known for miso butter ramen, so that’s what I got! Afterwards, it was time to explore the city.

There are more than a dozen temples throughout Aomori City. We went to some of them while walking around.

All that worship made us hungry again. Aomori is known for apples since they grow really well here. We went back to A-FACTORY to try all the apple things. We got apple pie, hot apple cider, apple ice cream, apple jam, and, of course, some Aomori apples!

Once we got all filled up, it was time to see the biggest Buddha in all of Japan. He stands tall at 68 ft 10 in!

Misawa Air Base does events to keep morale high and one of these events is murder mystery night, which happens once a year. It was so much fun figuring out “who dun’ it” (we figured it out too!) and spending time with our friends Zari and Haruka.

Tomorrow, we will try to see lanterns for the Obon festival. I will keep you informed!

In Japan, karaoke is nothing like how it is in the US. In the US, it’s a big group event where one person sings in front of a crowd. It’s meant to be a bit embarrassing. In Japan, however, it’s a private event with only a few people per group and you get a private room. It’s customary to get a drink with your room and you rent the karaoke room for 1-3 hours. Lots of Japanese people use this to unwind at the end of the week, sing, dance, and blow off steam with friends or coworkers.

Leanne and I found a karaoke place near our house where we sang for an hour. It was a lot of fun! Leanne is camera shy but believe me, she can really sing!

Japanese Curry is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. We went to CoCo Curry House, a famous curry place right near the base to try it out! It was very different from Thai or Indian curry but good in its own right. Definitely worth trying!

Ryota, my friend I mentioned in a previous post, really likes to fish. He caught multiple fish, many over 40kg! He prepared them up for us to eat. It doesn’t get fresher than this!

Malls in the USA are dying for sure. But here is Japan? They’re so fun and full of life! When we came to the mall this time, we were greeted with a full on dance routine.

After a nice lunch we went to You’s Land to try to win a prize. We saw this bunny where you control when the scissors stop on a y axis. If you get it juuuuust right you get the prize.

We then discovered the arcade section of the mall, and let me tell you, arcades in Japan are next level.

We ended the mall trip with a trip to the photo booth which is not at all like how they are in the states. It’s a whole experience where you take the pictures but it makes your eyes huge and makes you look “kawaii.” You can then add hearts and funny things to the photos. And that was our trip to the mall!

Went to the mall again. You know what that means! Time for more funny translations! You would think that the bad translations probably don’t get sold and certainly don’t get worn, right? Well, you’d be wrong.

Japan sure does love its festivals! This weekend, there was a festival right outside the Base. So much food, activity, and cute things to see and buy!

Leanne found a fish stick! But, like, a literal fish stick.

Takoyaki! This is octopus inside of fried dough with japanese mayo on top. Really, really good.

Shaved ice is really big here in Japan. It’s not quite snow cones since it’s more fluffy but it’s a very similar concept. They put this milk sugar sauce thing on top that’s so delicious.

They had a section for live music that had a massive Uncle Sam. Interesting!

The festival was really fun! We’re planning on going back tomorrow.

Say hello to Tora, which means tiger in Japanese.

This is my new car. The navigation system is all in Japanese, which isn’t ideal, but it can definitely navigate me to the nearest udon noodle shop (tested this one, and it works)!