Hirosaki Castle in the Winter

Hirosaki Castle Park is at its best at two times. Certainly one of them is when the cherry blossoms arrive, giving life to the 5000+ cherry blossom trees (the MOST in Japan). The other is in winter, when little snow blossoms cling to every branch. Futhermore, although smaller than the famous one in Sapporo, Hirosaki puts on a snow festival in the castle park during Febuary. The large scale structures can not compare with those of Sapporo, but I skip over the glaring ice Snoopies and enjoy walking past the hundreds of lanterns built out of snow. They line the walkways and each lantern (3 or four feet high) is an individual tribute to snow...