Did you know that Akita Prefecture has its own Nebuta Festival like Aomori? In Noshiro City, colorful lantern floats have been paraded around the streets of the city every august since ancient times, but this blog post is not about the actual festival. Instead, it is about the Noshiro Nebunagashi Museum, where you can see some of the Nebuta floats used during the festival, plus some extremely big, very cheeky, kites.
The museum itself is part of the Energium Park, which is located next to Noshiro City’s thermal power station. The park is a haven for families with young children, as it features both an outdoor playground, a wading pool (good for those hot summer days), an arboretum under a glass dome, and various indoor play facilities for children.
The museum itself is a rather unassuming building, but once inside, it offers a much bigger display than what one might imagine from the outside. The building houses two huge Nebuta floats in the shape of castles. They are lit up from the inside, so you can see all the splendor of the colorful floats. Apart from the large floats, the hall also has two enormous kites. These are used for the annual kite flying festival, held every year on the fourth Sunday of April. There is also a number of mannequins set up to showcase the costumes of the festival, and music from the event is always played in the background. Two taiko drums are also set up, so visitors can have a go at playing the festival music.
The museum has free admission, it is generally unmanned, and open from 09:30 to 16:30 (closed on Mondays). There is a humble selection of souvenirs and local crafts on display in the lobby, but as there is no staff, you would have to make a phone call to a number written on the display in order to buy anything.
Overall, it is a very nice little museum that has a great atmosphere, and it offers a good opportunity to see the parade floats and the costumes up close.
However, as a tourist attraction, it unfortunately fails miserably due to its location. For locals who have cars and are going to the park anyway with their children, it is a splendid little 10-minute distraction for their kids. However, for anyone without a car, the park is located a good 45-minutes’ walk from the nearest bus stop, or a full hour from the Noshiro train station. The walk itself to the park is not bad. It goes through a beautiful pine tree park, stretching several kilometers. But as a museum, it is unfortunately not worth the two-hour return journey from the Noshiro train station. Unless, of course, you are obsessed with Nebuta festivals and have a lot of spare time.
The museum also does not show up on Google Maps when searching in English. It only shows up in Japanese (能代ねぶながし館 for all those interested), which makes even finding it practically impossible.
Not all museums need to be geared for outside tourists. Sometimes, it is nice to have something that is mainly for the locals to enjoy their own culture and history. However, it seems a missed opportunity for Noshiro City to locate the museum so far from the city center, when there are large empty lots only a few hundred meters from the main station.
An enthralling exhibit in a terrible location.
Address:
1-6 Omoriyama, Noshiro, Akita 016-0807