Twenty-four meters. That is the height of the largest lantern tower that moves through the streets of Noshiro on the nights of August 6th and 7th. Called 'The Sleepless Castle in the Sky,' constructed from bamboo and washi paper, illuminated from within, it requires dozens of people to guide it through the city's main street while traditional music plays around it. Noshiro is a port city on the Akita coast — not a destination that appears on most travelers' itineraries. These lights were not built for tourists. They were built for the city, which has been building them every August for generations, each year slightly larger than the last. Tohoku's summer festival tradition is anchored by the Aomori Nebuta and Hirosaki Neputa, which have become internationally known. Noshiro's festival belongs to the same tradition at comparable scale, with the significant difference that you are likely to be one of very few non-local visitors in the crowd. What you gain is the feeling — accurate — that you have arrived somewhere that would have been doing this without you.