Nebuta and Neputa Festival and Apple
Nebuta and Neputa Festival: Traditional festival of the cities of Aomori and Hirosaki, held in August. Large floats are carried or rolled on wheels through the cities in the evening, with singing, dancing, and music. The floats have enormous paper images of popular or legendary characters, made of a wood base, carefully covered with Japanese papers, beautifully colored, and lighted from the inside with hundreds of light bulbs. These festivals cerebrates the 30th anniversary of registration to the important intangible folk-cultural property of Japan in 1980 this year.
Apple: Aomori Prefecture is ranking first among all prefectures in annual production of apples. This year celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Fuji apple, a major apple variety developed in Aomori Prefecture.