The Tsugaru region is located in the western part of Aomori Prefecture. Boasting the vast Tsugaru Plain, it is centered around Tosa-minato, a port that developed around the brackish lake "Jusan-ko" on the coast, and was a center for the Kitamae-bune (northern trade ships) and other trade routes...
Aoiwa
Aomori Prefecture has only a little over 30 Paleolithic sites, which is extremely few compared to other municipalities. The reasons for this are detailed in "[Paleolithic Sites in Aomori Prefecture: Part 2]". Among those, I'd like to highlight...
I was surprised by the news report that "there were lions in Japan too" (announced by the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in January 2026). Originally, Paleolithic artifacts (approximately 125,000) have been unearthed in Aomori Prefecture...
Aomori Prefecture suffered extensive damage from heavy snowfall in the winter of 2026. The average winter temperature is around 2°C even during the day, making it extremely cold. Even 6,000 years ago, during the Jomon period, the average temperature during the coldest winters was around 2°C...
The Training Process to Become an Itako We've looked at examples of the shamanistic practices performed by Itako, but what kind of training is necessary to become an Itako? Currently, new Itako...
Introduction While reverence for intangible things like "prayer" and "faith" is still valued today, in the past in Japan, these were even more closely intertwined with daily life. That...
"Japanese fossil tigers were actually lions." In January 2026, a shocking research finding was announced. Furthermore, the research subject was a fossil discovered at Shiriyazaki (Higashidori Village) on the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture...
The hit song "Ore-ra Tokyo sa Ikuda" (We're Going to Tokyo), sung by Ikuzo Yoshi, includes the line, "The bus comes once a day." This raises the question: do buses that only come once a day actually exist...?.
Tsugaru dialect is often said to be one of those dialects that people say, "I can't understand what they're saying." But if you look at the words actually used, you'll find that they're surprisingly simple and many of them are familiar.
One of Aomori's specialties is "Bo-pan" (stick bread). Many people may have heard the name, but wonder, "What kind of food is it?" It's simply bread wrapped around a stick and baked, but in Aomori City, it's popular at camps and schools...
