Goshogawara was the last stop in our tour of Tohoku’s festivals. The town is smaller than both Hirosaki and Aomori, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I think it turned out to be my favourite festival of the bunch.

The ride from Hirosaki was easy, pleasant and short. We followed a local road that took us through orchards and scattered houses that was flat and quiet. It wasn’t even all that warm.

We got to Hirosaki, scouted for a place to set up our tents after the festival and then went into town to grab some festival food (always delicious, my festival dish of choice is called okonomiaki, cabbage, egg, noodles and a host of other ingredients all fried together) and a good spot to watch the parade.

Our campsite and Goshogawara

Goshogawara is famous for having tall floats in their festival. I wasn’t quite sure what that would mean exactly but it produced some stunning floats, along with a huge double drum tower that led the parade.

As always there was music and dancers in the parade too. Of all the festivals, this one felt the most lively – probably why I enjoyed it the most.