There are a couple of differences from the other two festivals. The main one being of course the shapes of the lanterns, which are large fans. Also, this festival is for the kids and you will see a lot of young children pulling the floats. Lastly, instead of going in a circular route, the parade basically makes a straight line. I found that the the further back I went in the parade route the fewer people where there. So if you want a lot of space, head towards the end. Just be sure to check with the tourist information center at Hirosaki Station to find out where the route is as it is not really obvious.

This was the first of the 3 lantern festivals I went to, so maybe I was more impressed because of it, but I really enjoyed Neputa Matsuri. The floats aren’t as impressive as the other two, but still pretty amazing to me! You can find a little more information here.

• • Nebuta in Aomori(most famous and has huge lantern floats)
  • Neputa in Hirosaki (smaller fan shaped lanterns)
  • Tachi Neputa in Goshogawara (instead of huge wide lanterns, this one has really tall ones…up to 22 meters and 16 tons!)

One thing you need to know about Nebuta is that it is REALLY crowded. If you are just a spectactor it might not matter as much, but if you are a photographer, you should do one of the following things to be able to get an unobstructed view:

• • Arrive early, as in at least a couple of hours early and try to find some unclaimed space.
  • Most likely you will need to speak Japanese but you could contact the Aomori Tourist Center and find out about reserving seats (should be done at months in advance as reserved front row seats sell out early).
  • Really the best advice I can give you is to bring a small ladder. About one hour to 45 minutes before, the police will block off the sides of the intersections where the parade will turn and people rush, push, pull, muscle and squeeze to fill these premium spaces. If you bring a step ladder (or find something to stand on) you can get a strait on view of the festival and have nobody get in your way.