Guiding My teacher's Sister Through Akita Citiy

My English teacher is British. Last autumn, his younger sister came to Akita from the UK to visit him, and he asked me to be her guide for about five hours in Akita City.

We met in front of the Akita Arts Theatre Milhas. My teacher drove her there and dropped her off.

The weather was beautiful that day, so the view from Senshu Park was especially clear and impressive.

If you walk around the park at a relaxed pace, it takes about an hour to see everything, but we moved through it a little more quickly.

In the center of the park, there is a pond with a fountain.

Sometimes visitors can see Akita dogs in the Ninomaru area, but unfortunately there were none there that day.

After leaving Senshu Park, we visited the Akita Museum of Art. Tourists are always amazed by the enormous mural painted by Tsuguharu Foujita, and my teacher's sister was no exception.

After that, we walked to Takasagado in Torimachi. Takasagado is my father's family business and a confectionery shop with a history of about 130 years. The interior has a unique blend of Japanese and Western styles, and we enjoyed some tea there.

Later, we had lunch at a bakery called Bonne in Torimachi. They offer a wide variety of sandwiches and open-faced sandwiches, and everything is very delicious.

Next, we visited the Kaneko House, which is designated as a cultural property of the city, and then the Neburi Nagashi-kan next door. T

here, my guest had the opportunity to experience balancing a Kanto pole, which is used during Akita's famous summer festival. She did a remarkably good job keeping it balanced.

We decided to return to Honjo by train. Before leaving, we explored the basement floor of the department store near the station, where local specialties and regional foods from Akita are sold.

By pure coincidence, we happened to run into my 93-year-old father while he was shopping there. It was completely unexpected and became one of the memorable moments of the day.

Finally, we took the train back to Honjo. We had walked quite a lot throughout the day, and she seemed rather tired by the end. I felt a little sorry for making her walk so much, but I hope she enjoyed seeing many different aspects of Akita in just one day.