This is Hirosaki Castle
It's a home town I know too well
This castle was built in the 1600s but then burned down
It was rebuilt in the 1800s and it's the only castle that was rebuilt before the modern era
The castle is currently under construction and they moved it but you can definitely still see it!
Hirosaki Castle right now
It's very quiet so I just feel like I should be quiet
I think this is one of my favorite castles
I love it because there's like lots of vegetation and trees and gardens and places to sit
A lot of people come to run and do exercise
This place is huge
The castle's not so big
But the whole area around it is just so wide and like vast so there's lots of activity going on
There's little parks over there
Hirosaki castle actually has 1200 cherry blossom trees so it's actually the best spot to see cherry blossoms
when you come to Japan, a lot of people don't know that!
If you walk inside there are a few artefacts you can take a look at!
Head up the scary steep steps and you can try on some Japanese traditional clothing from the castle period.
Tyler looks smashing! Look at this!
Royalty!
These pictures are all the castles in Japan
At the top of the castle, a museum of photos of all the castles in Japan are displayed along the walls
It's definitely my dream to see them all!
Scariest thing in my life
You can also experience a lovely view of Mount Iwaki right outside the castle
And take in all of its beauty
I searched my Planetyze guidebook for all this information and more, so go and check it out!
The botanical garden is one of my favorites
We didn't have too much time to see it but I've been here before and it's huge!
Next to the castle grounds we were able to see the famous Hirosaki Library that was built to commemorate
victory in the Japanese Russo-war in the 1900s
It was used as a library until 1931
This library was a building that stood out the most because of its western style structure
Inside you can explore the rooms and look at the artefacts that used to cover the library's offices and shelves
I really love History and historical buildings so this is definitely a must-see
Behind the library is a miniature city of Hirosaki
You kinda feel like Godzilla roaming the grounds
And all of these structures were hand made
Hirosaki never used to have a Starbucks but I'm happy to announce that this Japanese-esque Starbucks building
literally blew my mind and is a new addition to Hirosaki City
Before our next destination we had some ramen at a local ramen shop
We decided to stop at Senringai Street which is a street with multiple temples
So I learned that there's 33 temples down this street, which is pretty cool
It's really pretty, and there's one down here I don't even know which one to go to
At the end is Choshoji Temple which is temple built for its Tsugaru lords
The gate to the temple was built in 1629
Its one of the oldest temples you can see in this prefecture and pretty incredible to look at
This is probably the creepiest temple that I've ever been to
It's very old looking, which makes it very cool to come see
They haven't renovated this gate..this temple in a while
Maybe some parts they have
but I believe they haven't because it was built with a specific type of construction
So they created it without using nails and all that stuff it's very old
So this is what makes it quite interesting
His eyes, look at his eyes
Holy crap!
So all of these temples are used to protect the castle which is nearby
So that's why there's a line of temples plus this one
Which is pretty cool
Check out the Planetyze guidebook if you're interested in coming here!
Okay, this place was my favorite place to go to coz this was literally in my history books growing up
This place was meant to become a baseball field
But in 1992, construction workers found a ton of old artefacts from the Jomon period in which people used to live
All this information is in your Planetyze guidebook
So check it out!
4000 to 5000 years ago they lived here
And they found a bunch of artefacts and dug up a bunch of artefacts
So we're gonna go look at all the old houses and the burial grounds and all sorts of things so
let's go check it out!!
You can wear the clothes that they use to wear and explore the grounds and the houses
So far there are 700 homes that have been discovered
The roofs are made out of bark and mud
So tiny
There's straw
It's made out of straw and wood
And there's a bunch of spider webs out there
This is an original house
I can't believe this stuff was built 5000 years ago
This place is just gorgeous, there's valleys and trees and....amazing!
Let's go in this one
I feel like I'm in Zelda
And then going in to fight a boss
This looks like..you know what this looks like?
The spider cave in Zelda! Remember when they come down and they give you gifts?
It looks just like that
There's so much that you can discover on this part of land
Including tombs of adults and children
Some homes were even built on stilts like this one
So this is a three floor structure that they recreated
And it's supposed to be a replication of a building that was standing here in the past
And they dug all this up
This building was recreated the way they thought it looked in the past
The roof wasn't recreated because there was so many theories as to how it was built
Adventure!!!
Wow this is so cool, they could have like a restaurant in here
At the end of your adventure you can check out the Jomon Period Museum
Where they have multiple artefacts on display
So we are at Seiryuji Temple
And this is pretty cool because the Buddha here is the biggest Buddha in the country
So we're excited to see that, but over here is the pagoda
Another pagoda
And this was founded in 1982, I believe so it's fairly new, fairly recent
But yeah it's really cool here!
Seiryuji houses pinwheels just as Mount Osore had done
They represent children or unborn children who have passed
So they have an event where they light the candles
The whole place is lit up
and we just missed it
But there's a typhoon that came!
So I guess they couldn't do it on the last day
You can still see the candles that are aligned along the path still
If you guys would like to know more information please check out the Planetyze guidebook app once again!
The Buddha is 21,35 meters high and the temple offers various experiences such as mourning and meditation and vegetarian meals
Look at how big that thing is!
Oh my gosh!
You can also explore the inside of the Buddha
It has 2 floors of statues of religious figures
Drink tea while you relax! It's completely free!
This temple represents nature
So you can just relax and drink some nice tea
It looks like this I don't know if you can see
And the Japanese garden is supposed to represent nature so the white is the ocean, and the rocks are like the mountains
So this is a very peaceful place
I like peaceful places
There's lots of nature and it's a really cool place to come see
even though it's a short time
You can see this and many other things in one day
So this should definitely be on your list if you come to Aomori Prefecture
The grounds are open from 8am to 5:30pm April through October and 9am to 4:30pm November through March
Hey guys, don't forget to subscribe, like this video and download the Planetyze guidebook for more information
and book tours for these places today!
Akso from now on I'll be doing live shows on the Livestar app every Sunday, Monday and Wednesday mornings here in Japan
It's free so search Lizkelly and chat with me about anything you like, I'm thinking it's going to be at 9am Japan time
so please check that out!
Also follow me on all my social media platforms for any announcements or updates
I launched my blog / website "strawberriesrlife.com" so check out extras and information that didn't make it to this video!
All this and more is linked below and I'll see you guys in the next video!