Last week I told you about how I met Santa Claus in Akita-ken. After receiving my gift from him, I continued on my journey North in the quest for central heating.
As I boarded the train for Aomori, passengers were standing on the platform next to standup ramen shops slurping ramen while they awaited their trains. Talk about inhaling your food.
Aomori, a part of the Tohoku region and the most northern prefecture of Honshu, has the image of being backward and "very country" as the Japanese say. Aomori, which means "blue forest," is famous for apples and the Aomori festival in summer. For the rest of the year, Aomori is famous for "Aomori-ben," the local dialect of Japanese.