On June 3rd, the final round of the "50th Miss Nebuta Contest" was held at Nebuta House Wa Rasse (Yasukata, Aomori City).

Miss Nebuta conducts PR activities at tourism promotional events held inside and outside Aomori Prefecture, including Aomori Nebuta Festival. In this contest, two people, "Miss Nebuta Grand Prix" and "Miss Nebuta", will be selected to act as Miss Nebuta for one year.

This year, there were 41 applicants from inside and outside the prefecture, and 11 remained in the final screening. Eleven people promoted themselves within one minute and answered questions from six judges.

Miss Nebuta Grand Prix was chosen by Noka Koda. Born in Aomori, currently attending university in Tokyo. The reason she started aiming to be Miss Nebuta was her experience as an announcer at the box seats during the 2018 Aomori Nebuta Festival, and she was thanked by onlookers. “I wanted to promote Nebuta,” says Koda.

Akane Sakuraba and Riko Sato were chosen as Miss Nebuta. Sakuraba is a fourth-year student from Aomori and attending a university in Saitama. He applied last year as well, but recalls that he was disappointed when he failed the final screening. Sakuraba expressed her desire to become a flight attendant in the future, and to promote the appeal of nebuta not only in Japan but also overseas.

Mr. Sato, a company employee living in Kuroishi, excited the audience by performing Teodori, which he has been doing since he was 6 years old. “I would like people living in Aomori to rediscover the charm of nebuta, and I would like them to like it even more,” says Sato.

Mr. Koda said that when his name was called for the Grand Prix, he was honored to be selected from among the 11 contestants. ``My goal is to be a bridge between people.