Livin' the McDream: Tsugaru Kokeshi Museum

About a week and a half ago, before our Kyoto/Hiroshima trip, we had made a quick stop at the Tsugaru Kokeshi Museum in Kuroishi. We didn't go through the museum part, just checked out the gift shop area. Some wooden daruma dolls caught Keenan's eye, but at the time we didn't buy one. When I say "doll" it's not really a "doll," just a cool painted head. Well, he couldn't stop thinking about them and we looked for something similar while on our trip. Never saw anything like them again. This is the first time he's had remorse over not buying something...I've done it multiple times so I knew we should get one. Today I went back to retrieve a daruma doll. As you can see by the picture below, they are pretty awesome.

I took the mountain route and stopped off at a couple places. Azaleas were blooming at Suriennuma Pond. So pretty! Also stopped at Jigokunuma Swamp which is a terrible smelling place...lots of sulfur in the water!

Suriennuma Pond.

Jigokunuma Swamp.

The sign at the swamp, it says it was formed by a volcanic
eruption of Mt. Hakkoda. Every minute 2,700 liters of
hot water comes out of the bottom of the swamp.

Tsugaru Kokeshi Museum! The museum has a few signs in English, but a lot of it is only in Japanese. There are over 5,000 kokeshi dolls on display and many daruma as well. The 11 styles of Kokeshi are displayed with a short description of each type. You can paint your own kokeshi as well, but reservation is required so call ahead! **I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing you would need someone that speaks Japanese to make the reservation**
It's open everyday 9:00-17:00 (16:00 December-March). Admission is ¥320.
http://tsugarukokeshi.com/index.html
GPS coordinates: 40.606559, 140.676458 (see map and additional details at bottom of post)