Japan cruise excursion: things to see and do in Aomori
By Cruise & Travel | 30 Nov 2023
Wooden temples, concrete dogs, the world’s juiciest apples and one of the most colourful festivals in Japan – that’s Aomori, writes Russell Higham
Aomori’s futuristic skyline, dominated by a pyramid-shaped skyscraper, seems to lean out as we approach on Silversea’s Silver Muse, inviting us to explore the streets beyond the cruise terminal.
Aomori’s Nature and Urban Architecture
The angular architecture of this vibrant city – set on the northern tip of Honshu, Japan’s main island – is crowned by the rugged Hakkoda mountains, which lie 13 miles southeast and are popular with climbers, skiers and snowboarders. The two landscapes somehow complement each other, a reflection of this highly urbanised country’s harmonious relationship with nature.
Nebuta Festival
The Japanese love Aomori for its juicy red apples (the climate’s extreme temperature differences help cultivate the world’s finest, apparently) and for its 300-year-old Nebuta Festival, held each August, when a population of 300,000 swells to nearly 3 million. They flock here to admire the ornately decorated floats, each brightly lit and painted with historical kabuki figures from Japanese folklore, then paraded through the city to music and Haneto dancing.
I’m too early for the festivities, so instead visit Nebuta Wa-Rasse Museum, where some of these floats, and the stories behind them, are displayed to dramatic effect.
Seiryu-ji Temple
Aomori is also home to Seiryu-ji Temple, site of the 70ft-high bronze Showa Daibutsu, Japan’s largest seated Buddha statue. In the Kondo (the temple’s main hall), after watching the monks perform a short concert using traditional instruments, I’m served jasmine tea.
I take it outside and admire the karesansui (Zen rock garden), enjoying the fragrant tea and the sense of calm as my eyes wander over the smooth sand and stone sculptures. It neighbours an exquisite five-storey pagoda, one of Japan’s tallest, each level representing, according to Buddhist tradition, the sacred elements of earth, water, fire, wind and sky.
Aomori Museum of Art
Contrastingly, the sleek, low-slung, secular architecture of Aomori Museum of Art, designed by Jun Aoki – better known for his Tokyo temple to the god of retail: Louis Vuitton – almost commits the sacrilege of upstaging the collection inside. Salvation is at hand, though, from selfies taken between the paws of giant concrete dog, Aomori-Ken, by local-born artist Yoshimoto Nara.
Cruise lines calling at Aomori, Japan
