In the morning, we traveled to Morioka (盛岡) to visit the Morioka Handicraft Village (盛岡手工藝村). First we visited a replica of a Nambu magariya house, a traditional L-shaped building in which a stable is joined to a house.
Then we had free time to visit and even experience some of the handicraft in the village. This is a facility where you can “see, touch, and create” various traditional craftworks and foods of Morioka. There are 2 main areas: the Workshop Area and the Exhibition Area. In the Workshop Area you can buy products, watch professional craftsmen at work, and get hands-on experience making original goods. An easy activity for starters is making Nambu sembei Japanese rice crackers, which is done in a similar manner to Belgian waffles. Another easy activity is putting flavored syrup on plain dango(Japanese dumpling) or dumplings. The dango store has very unique dango, such as cream dango and okaka ( dried bonito flakes ) dango. In the Exhibition Area, there are many local specialties are sold. We brought an iron tea pot.
The we had lunch at Orae (湖畔之社). This is the restaurant who asked our tour guide to provide the exact number of each order at 48 hours ahead of time. It shows how rigid Japanese are when they are doing business. After lunch, we had few minutes to take a picture of a 100+ years old pine tree next to the restaurant and next to the Lake Tazawa (田沢湖). Lake Tazawa (Tazawako) is a scenic caldera lake that has not been overly developed and retains a natural and rustic atmosphere. Lake Tazawa has much in common with Lake Towada, another popular lake in the area that lends its name to the Towada-Hachimantai National Park. While Lake Towada is the largest caldera lake in the country, Lake Tazawa is Japan's deepest lake with a depth of 423 meters. Both lakes offer similar scenery and water related activities like pleasure boat rides.
There is an iconic statue of the legendary local girl Tatsuko by the lake side, and we also stopped by and took some photos there.
Then we went to Kakunodate (角館) to visit Bukeyashiki (武家屋敷). Kakunodate is a district of Senboku City in central-eastern Akita prefecture that was once a castle town. Kakunodate's appeal is both historical and scenic, featuring well-preserved samurai houses, many of them centuries old. We visited the Aoyagi Samurai Manor Museum (角館歴史村青柳家) which has six galleries to explore, in addition to a beautiful garden in the total area of almost 10,000 square meters. The estate features the Main House, Armory, Kaitaishinsho Gallery, Akita Folk Museum, Samurai Tool Museum, Bakumatsu Gallery, Samurai Experience Booth, Antique Gallery Tea Room and gift shops. You can also enjoy holding authentic samurai swords, the demonstration of traditional art works, and the antique market inside.
Then we had free time to stroll around the Kakunodate's samurai quarter which has wide avenues and the thatched residences are hidden behind black fences and grand entrance gates. In the samurai quarter, there was beautiful fall foliage for many photo opportunities.
Later we checked into Tsunagi Onsen (繫温泉) to have 會習料理 as dinner. After dinner we also have a karaoke party. We had so much fun, we even skipped the folk dance show in the lobby. However, when we passed by the lobby later, we did have a chance to take a photo with those young performers.
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