Japan: Aizu
Author: Samuel Peterson
Date Published
2018-04-21 (ISO 8601)
73-04-21 (Post Bomb)
In April of the year 73 (PB) my wife attended a conference in Aizu, Japan concerning the book she is working on "New Views of the Moon"; we took this opportunity to go Japan as a family (Amanda; myself; and Elliott, our son). Our itinerary was to spend 5 days in Aizuwakamatsu (henceforth just Aizu, which is actually the name of the region of which Aizuwakamatsu is the chief city), 4 days in Kyoto, and 1 day in Tokyo from whence we would depart.
At the time of this writing, we are at the end of our stay in Aizu, and are due to fly to Kyoto tomorrow. I shall put here my thoughts on Aizu while they are fresh in my memory. If my impressions change much upon maturing, I'll probably write about it in a future post as well.
Some introductory notes on the city of Aizu
Aizu is a city of town of about 120,000. An astonishing fact about the place is that the population density is 320/km2, which is slightly less than the density of the whole country (336/km2). It should be noted that the subjective feel of the place is one of a fairly dense suburban area in the US. I found it staggering to imagine a settlement of such a concentration covering the whole country coming up slightly short of the total.
Another fun fact to give a sense of the age of the population: the current rate of contraction of the Japanese population is about 400,000 people per year, which is larger than the whole region of Aizu(as opposed to the city) by about 130,000.
Aizu's main tourist schtick is that it is the "city of the Samurai". This image is due partly to the fact that it was one of the more important places which remained loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate during the Boshin War. Reenactments of the Feudal period, a preserved mansion meant for very senior Samurai, and a fabulous reconstruction of the Tsuruga Castle constitute the main tourist attractions.
Tsuruga Castle
I suppose that Tsuraga castle is all that has to be mentioned in any detail. We had the good fortune to be in Aizu while the cherry blossoms were still in bloom, and they were planted everywhere around this castle. I was already aware of the Japanese fondness for cherry blossoms, and their keen sense of aesthetics, yet I was still astonished at the beauty of the area. I'll put some pictures up, but they don't quite do it justice. The takeaway is this: Please take the opportunity to go to Japan during cherry blossom season.
Other stuff
What else? We walked around, ate green tea ice cream, shopped around. Horse meat is a specialty of the area. Alas, my ambitions of a feast most equestrian were foiled by the circumstances of seating availability for the restaurants which featured it. Maybe in Kyoto. I also really want to eat whale.