Northern Japan Camping Trip

This week we left the safety of our home to brave the wilds of northern Japan. Our first stop was the Iwate Children's Park where our kids enjoyed all sorts of fun from a pretend Onsen filled with all sorts of toys to these great bicycles built for two.

Our next stop was Akita, a city on the west coast. We got lost looking for a campground and stopped at a McDonald's to use the restroom and ask for directions. The young Japanese man who gave us directions also lead us all the way to the campground some 22 kilometers away. The Japanese are so kind and this is only one example of many acts of kindness that we receive when traveling around Japan.

After dinner we drove back down the mountain into the city for the famous Akita Kanto Festival. For the past 250 years Akita has had this festival in the summer to bring a good harvest.  The highlight of this festival is the "Kanto", bamboo poles with 46 lanterns, and the performers who balance them.  We took this picture by this display of a Kanto in the train station where we parked.

From here we walked over a kilometer thorough the city and then shouldered our way into the crowd for a spot to see the talented Kanto performers. We got there just in time for the raising of the lanterns. The men take turns holding up the Kanto and balancing all 120+ pounds and 40+ feet of it the on their heads, shoulders, hands or hips. Each time they pass the Kanto to another team member they add on another meter of bamboo so that by the end the poles were bending over the electrical wires and spectators alike. Thrilling! This was Jane's favorite part of our trip and has been trying to balance any number of things on her head - wooden spoons, empty toilet paper rolls, our small broom, etc. The man next to us said that one of the groups of men performing right in front of us were this year's Kanto champions.

Here you can see that even the pro's sometimes lose their balance, which give the Hackett's great hope for their attempts at balancing everything from the kitchen on their heads.

Here's a little video of the Kanto balancing in the parade.  It's dark, but if you look closely you can see the amazing balancing acts.

Here we are on our Botanical Garden hike outside of Akita.

Ryan and Helen were great dishwashers and this was one of our favorite campsites.

Our next stop was Juniko Lakes, which are famous for their brilliant colors. But we will always remember it for the giant beetle in the bathroom. Here you see that Ryan enlisted Jane's help to give an accurate perspective of size.

Hiking is one of our favorite things to do, and we had a great time stomping from lake to lake.  Our local dollar store sells water bottle carriers which I purchased for the girls so that I no longer have to cart a gallon of water around on my back. 

Here we are waving by the waves of the Sea of Japan, where we stopped to stretch our legs a little as we drove further north.

At our last campsite, on a island in Lake Jusanko, we got to test our tent against an awesome thunderstorm. Our tent won the contest, but not without a little rain on the inside. Luckily, most campsites are equipped with kitchens like the one you see below, so we could stay dry and eat breakfast after the worst of the storm was over.