It's been happening every year for somewhere in the area of 300 years, and has become quite popular. As a result the city is completely full of people, so much so that we were forced to stay in a place that was quite a bit over our normal budget for two nights because literally every hotel and hostel was completely full.
It's hard to really explain what's going on, and getting a good picture can be tough due to the massive crowds of people, but basically after lighting paper lanterns and setting them afloat down the river that runs through town, groups of performers light and hoist up these lanterns.
It's actually pretty impressive, and looking down the steet a few kilometers in the distance to see hundreds of them marching along to the constant beat of taiko drums and wood flute melodies is quite amazing. Even moreso when you realize that each one weighs about 50kg and is usually being balanced on one hand, or the head of one person. It's also about 50 million degrees and extremely humid.
Ok, just one tourist attraction - and that's it up there. Since we had only used up an hour we decided to go see The Last Airbender, in Japanese. It was pretty dreadful, I think I'm actually glad I couldn't hear the english dialogue.
We spent the rest of our time here picking up a few supplies, and wandering the streets at night. With the festival going on there are plenty of people everywhere, often in traditional Japanese clothes so just people watching was interesting enough.
While it was a pretty fun place to rest, I think I've seen everything in Akita twice at this point, so I'm happy to get going. Here's hoping my Japanese hasn't completely failed me, and I actually did order the correct part for the bike. I guess we'll find out this afternoon!
Our next major stop is Kyoto, which is a place I've personally always wanted to see. Hopefully the nice weather we've had while being here in Akita holds up once we get back on the bikes!
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