Tohoku: Cherry Blossoms and Nebuta

by Jose · Published June 6, 2026 · Updated June 6, 2026

What the heck is a nebuta? I did not know either. After Tokyo and Disney we headed to the Northern tip of the main island to check out the huge paper lantern floats used during summer festivals (called Nebuta) at the Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse in the city of Aomori where it is believed the tradition started. We then drove slightly south to Hirosaki where there is a large cherry blossom festival in mid to late April

A nebuta is a huge paper festival float. Spokesmodel Karen on left for scale

The museum was cool looking and was near the Hokkaido ferry

The floats are incredibly intricate and labor intensive takina a community group almost the whole year to design and build. As of now, it is community based with no large corporate sponsors

Each group hires a nebuta-shi master artisan to lead construction

The whole thing leads to the actual festivals in August. Warning Japanese festival goers gone wild video…😁 After the museum, we rented a car and drove to Hirosaki Castle Park to see the cherry blossoms at sunset and at night

The cherry blossoms were pretty at dusk but beautiful when they were lit up and reflected in the water

My favorite weepy pink variety. They were more rare

It was so pretty with the water and the lights

We were a few days past peak but still tons of blossoms everywhere

We were only in the north for one night but it really packed a visual punch between the colorful floats, ocean, mountains, and cherry blossoms. Maybe my favorite part of the trip despite the stress of driving and the short duration