Blue Forest Chronicles: Ashino Park in Goshogawara / 芦野公園五所川原

Going back to our first year of living in Aomori, we would spend our weekends going on drives exploring different places. Some, my wife was already familiar with as Aomori City is her hometown. The cherry blossoms bloom late in the Tohoku area. Usually around Golden Week which is the first week of May. Our first spring in Aomori was 2017, as we had moved from Tokyo in November the previous year. I was told that there was a small train station in Goshogawara at Ashino Park. This spot was very popular with train enthusiasts as they would be able to take pictures of a train with cherry blossoms as a backdrop.

青森に引っ越して初の東北春を過ごす。私たちは車を購入したあと、週末にドライブしながら、いろんな場所を回った。青森は妻の実家でもあり、隠れ名所もわかるはずだ。でも以外の知らない場所も多かったそうです。東北の桜満開は東京と違って、もっと遅い時期に咲く。大体ゴールデンウィークの間です。今年はちょっと早めに咲きました。桜を見ることを目的にして、五所川原にある芦野公園を目指した。この場所とこの時期は撮り鉄（鉄道の写真を撮るマニア）に超有名なスポットです。公園内に小さな駅があり、この時期なら桜のトンネルを走る電車が撮れそうなんです。

We debated eating lunch here, but there didn't seem to be any customers so we passed on this place, although we parked our car in their parking lot.

ここでランチ食べようと思ったが、お客さんが一人も入ってないため諦めた。ただ、この建物の駐車所に車を置いた。

I'm not a steam locomotive fanatic as mentioned above but they do interest me. I do not go out of my way in taking pictures of them, but if they are displayed and I have easy access to them, then of course I'm going to take a picture of it. There was a sign that said this the first forest railway.

僕は撮り鉄マニアほどではないが、鉄道は結構好き。こういう風に展示されてるものならつい写真を撮ります。この電車について書いたあったは、日本最初の森林鉄道。

This is the station at the park. The sign says "Sakura no Eki - Ashino Koen", which translates to "Cherry Blossom Station - Ashino Park". We decided to have lunch in the station.

ここが公園内にある駅。看板に大き書いてるある「桜の駅あしの公園」。この駅の中でランチを食べることにした。

My wife ordered the Chinese style noodles.

妻は支那そばを注文した。

I ordered the chashumen.

僕はチャーシュー麺を頼みました。

The ramen wasn't anything to write home about but it was decent. But we were here to see the train and the cherry blossoms.

ラーメンは普通に美味しかった。でもここに来た目的は電車と桜だ。

Here comes the train. You can see the toritetsu fans standing on the platform. They want to capture a picture of the train as it passes through the cherry blossom tunnel.

電車が来た。ホームに何人ものの撮り鉄が居て、やっぱり桜のトンネルを通ってる電車の写真が収まりたいですね。

Now that we've seen the train and the cherry blossoms, it was time to explore the park.

駅と電車と桜が見たので、次は公園内の探索。

Ashino Lake / 芦ノ湖

Cherry blossoms / 桜

Cherry blossom trees / 桜の木

If you look closely, you can see my wife between the trees.

写真を良く見ると木の間に僕の妻が写ってます。

We thought there was something strange about this island. Was it floating? Was it moving? Were our eyes playing tricks on us?

この島になんか変わってると僕と妻も思った。浮いてるか、動いてるか。私たちの目が変になってるか？

We finally discovered that, yes, it's moving. It was a man-made island.

謎が解いた。これは人工の島でした。やっぱり目が変ではなかった、島が実際に動いてた。

We decided to walk across this bridge over Ashino Lake.

この橋を渡ることにした。

This is actually a very large lake.

この湖は思ったより広い。

Dang, my face looks like an eggplant!

うわ！自分の顔がナスに見える。

The moving island.

動く人工の島。

When we moved to Aomori, we were also warned about seeing bears. But we could see bears anytime we wanted to if we come to this park. As this park also features a miniature zoo.

青森に引っ越して、良く言われたのは熊に注意。野生の熊は生存してますが、この公園でいつでも熊に会える。なぜと言えば、園内に小さな動物園みたいな場所がある。

There are rabbits.

うさぎもいるし。

There are birds.

鳥もいるし。

And of course there are the bears!

そして熊も居ます！

Yong-chan is the bear at the top left / ヨンちゃんは左上の熊

Roku-chan / ロクちゃん

Mok-chan / モクちゃん

I think I just had good timing on this picture.

良いタイミングでこの写真が撮れた。

When we went, the park takes care of three brown bears. The names of the bears are Mok-chan which is the largest of the three, Yong-chan which hair looks white, and "Roku-chan" which is the smallest bear.

公園は三頭の熊を飼育してます。一番身体が大きのはモクちゃん。毛が白く見えるのがヨンちゃんと身体が小さいのはロクちゃん。