We’re coming closer to the end of the trip; we leave for home on Saturday.

Today we were visiting Akita; hence the photo in the heading. The first stop was Senshu Park, once the site of the 17th-century Kubota Castle. Today's it's acclaimed as one of Japan's "100 Most Beautiful Parks," and though the castle is gone, the remnants of a watchtower and moat remain, as well as a reconstructed castle gate.

I was able to capture perhaps the last cherry blossoms in the country. Too bad they were all on the ground

From there we headed to discover the city's ancient celebrations with a visit to the Performing Arts Center. The Akita Kanto Festival is one of the most famous festival in Akita and occurs annually between the 3rd and 7th of August. The Kanto Festival is a harvest festival, but has its roots in an old summer purification ritual called Neburi (or Nebuta) Nagashi, which is still observed in many places throughout Japan. We saw dozens of paper lanterns, called "kanto." Mae was selected to demonstrate the balancing which you can see here.

From there we walked to the Old Kaneko Family House which reflects the history from the late Edo period to the early Meiji period. This residence was the former home of the Kaneko family, who ran a pawnshop and secondhand clothing business in the late Edo period, and later established a wholesale business for fabrics and cotton and linen textiles in the early Meiji period. The building continued to operate as a business until 1982 and was donated to Akita City.

Finally, on our way back to the ship we watched a man creating kanji name signs. It was like magic watching him work.