Discovering Aomori, Akita and Iwate with JR East Pass

Norther Japan, unless it is Hokkaido, is a much less explored place of Japan, but not less authentic or pretty. I was mainly interested in its nature - lakes, hiking trails, onsen, and for sure milder weather than central or southern Japan. In winter, there are plenty skiing resorts and snowy areas. In fact, you can check my post about our Yamagata escape in February, where we visited the snow monsters and snow-covered beautiful onsen villages.

But April is a great time to appreciate late cherry blossoms, as you may know, sakura travel from south to north as spring goes on.

This is a 5-day itinerary during late April using the JR East Pass that I did solo, covering Aomori, Iwate and Akita prefectures. As always, Japan is a super safe country for solo women travellers! My specific itinerary covers:

1. Day 1: Day in Hiraizumi UNESCO Heritage area (Iwate), travel to Hachinohe (Aomori) for the night.

2. Day 2: Daytrip to Lake Towada by JR Bus. Night in Hachinohe

3. Day 3: Transfer to Aomori, half day Aomori and half day at Hirosaki castle for cherry blossoms. Night in Aomori

4. Day 4: joyful train from Aomori to Akita, stopping at different stops along the way. Night in Akita

5. Day 5: Daytrip in Kakunodate samurai village. Return to Tokyo by evening
   

Transport

As you probably know, the JR Japan Pass is the main travel pass in Japan that covers rides in all its bullet trains - the shinkansen. What many people don't know is that often, and especially in the last years, purchasing region specific passes is much more cost-effective.

In the case of Tohoku region, the JR East Pass costs only 30000 yen, and allows you to not only take all shinkansen in the region, but also covers JR Buses between Aomori or Hachinoke and Lake Towada, or joyful trains -scenic trains along beautiful areas. Just think that a ride between Tokyo and Aomori may cost 15000 yen, so a roundtrip would even suffice! See here for details on what it covers.

You can buy the pass on the day at any JR East office, or in advance - either going to the office directly or first by Klook and showing the voucher. Be careful to indicate the correct starting date, as it covers 5 consecutive days i.e if indicated to be on day 26th of June (at any time) it will cover up to 30th June midnight.

Day 1: Hiraizumi UNESCO site (Iwate)

I took the early shinkansen from Omiya station to Hiraizumi, changing at Ichinoseki station, where I also left my backpack at a locker, as I had to return here in order to continue up north. For trips with accomodation at many cities, lockers are a real lifesaver!

With the JR Pass, I could take any unreserved seat I wanted, or book a reserved seat fro the machine or ticket office for free. It took 2.5 hours in total.

Hiraizumi is a historic city of Iwate prefecture, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2011, recognized for its temples, gardens and archaeological sites that represent the ideals of Pure Land Buddhism.

The area is walkable. It took me about 5 full hours to see the main sights, though I would recommend sparing a bit more as I half-rushed at the end, or alternatively rent a bike once leaving the station. Weather was sunny and simply perfect!

The village itself was quiet and with little tourists, not many arrive to these parts.

My first stop was Takadachi-gikeido, 20 minutes walk north from the station. It cost 300 yen, and takes some stairs to go up, but I really liked the views to Kitakami river together with Tohoku cherry blossoms. It also has a wooden statue of Takadachi warrior, a famous general of Japan.

From there, on to the main temple of Hiraizumi: Chuson-ji, a UNESCO heritage site temple. It is a historic Buddhist temple complex. It is a bit steep to go up, and the comple has over 40 halls and pagodas, so one can easily spend a few hours exploring them all.

For me I spent about 1.5 hours due to wanting fit other things in my agenda. Towards the end is the Golden Hall, a hall entirely covered in hall from inside and out.

There are also several small shrines nearby that I found cute. Still, I found access of 1000 yen quite expensive to only see the Golden Hall and another smaller temple. I would recommend even skipping it and focus on all the other free areas.

On the way down as I was pretty hungry I stopped for a bento with tempura, fish, and noodes - it was called Isekiya, and they had many different things.

In the afternoon, I walked for 20 minutes under the sun to Motsuji temple, the second most important UNESCO temple of Hiraizumi (700 yen access). Its large landscape garden is very impressive, with a lake in the middle -it is supposed to be a Pure Land garden of the Heian period. True to its name, I am sure in autumn it must also be pretty with momiji - autumn leaves.

I wanted to return to Ichinoseki by train but there had been some accident, so I had to take the bus - not covered by the JR Pass. It is not often there is a delay in a train in Japan, after all!

There are several beautiful gorges around Ichinonseki, the most famous ones being Genbikei Gorge and Geibikei Gorge - only differing in one character. I originally wanted to go to Geibikei, where you can take a boat tour, but I made the mistake of not checking the timetable sooner, as the last one was at 4 PM - see here if you plan to go. So I settled for Genbikei Gorge, about 15 minutes by bus from Ichinonseki station.

It is famous for "flying dango" attraction, where visitors can order dango (rice dumplings) and have them delivered across the gorge by a rope and basket system. Again, I recommend arriving in the morning to ensure you see it - i was too late and was kinda sad. It is still pretty to see the gorge, and there were really few people. I walked for about an hour around the gorge, crossing a few bridges. See the greenery of the leaves! Or the blueish river...

Around 5.30 PM I returned back to Ichinoseki station, and took the shinkansen towards Hachinohe (Aomori Prefecture), taking 1.20 hours, where I spent the night at Hotel Select Inn Hachinohe Chuo. I wanted to stay here so I could take the early bus next day from there to Towada, and also proceed to Aomori the following day. However, I recommend to book a place closer to the JR station, as city center is not that close and at least with my itinerary I did not see much of Hachinohe itself. An alternative would have been to spend the night at Morioka, capital of Iwate prefecture, but I had read it did not have many interesting sights.

Day 2: Lake Towada and hiking trail along the river (Aomori)

The second day I did a day trip to Lake Towada area. You can reach it either from Aomori city or Hachinohe, being a bit shorter from the latter (about 2-2.5 hours depending where you get off). It is fully covered by the JR East Tohoku pass, see the timetable here. Lake Towada is the largest caldera lake in Honshuu, and the nearby Oirase Stream is beautiful as well with many waterfalls.

I stopped midway of Oirase Stream, to walk along Oirase gorge, a calm gorge hidden between trees and several waterfalls along the way. As the bus is not frequent, I chose to walk for about 1.5 hours all the way to the lake itself, starting at Kumoi No Taki waterfall.

All waterfalls looked different, while this one was narrow and tall, the last one, Choshi Falls, was much wider and shorter. I found the whole walk very relaxing and good for self-reflection. After my Shikoku trip, I was realizing the beauty of solo travel and how I am getting to know myself better.

I reached the lake Towada soon after the last waterfall. Unfortunately, there were no boat trips yet, they were only starting the last weekend of April. So I took the bus to Towadako station, where there are several restaurants and cafes to grab a bite. I enjoyed looking out to the lake, and visiting Towada shrine hidden inside a forest.

The way back was a bit long, almost 3 hours to Hachinohe, it was about 7.30 PM by the time I arrived back. I had a brief walk around the city, there were some cute allleys like Miroku Yokocho. I guess with more time I would have checked out the harbour and coast of the city.

Day 3: Aomori and farewell to sakura at Hirosaki Castle (Aomori)

I left Hachinohe around 9 AM, it was complicated really to get to Hachinohe station. There were were few buses from city center to the statio, please get accomodation around the station! It took ony 1 hour, taking the Hayabusa shinkansen to Shin-Aomori and then the local Ou line to Aomori station, all covered by the pass.

Aomori city is the capital of Aomori prefecture, as the name implies, and the northernmost city of Honshuu. It is famous in the summer for its Nebuta festival, featuring massive, illuminated floats depicting mythological figures. It still has its fair of modern and traditional architecture, and plenty fo fish and apples!

I first visited Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse, just next to the station. It shows the history of Nebuta festival and examples of parade floats that are used. You can see me in the photo dragging one of those!

It is quite interactive as about 3 times per day there is a demonstration on the music that is played, and people are encouraged to dance and then try playing the taiko drums! By the way you can leave luggage for tfree there.

Next to the museum I popped in to A-factory, a modern building with shops selling all apple related products, from cakes to ice cream too, but seemed quite elegant. I liked crossing the nearby bridge too to reach the tourist information center, a quite a unique looking building.

I had an apple pie there and while you need to pay to see the actual observatory up top, there are many spaces to sit down and relax for a bit.

After leaving my luggage at Aomori Green Park Hotel Annex, I had some lunch at Aomori Gyosai Center. I really loved it as it is a fish market, where you can buy a set of tickets, say 5, that you can exchange fro different ingredients. So for example one is for rice, then others for a slice of salmon, tune, omelette, etc. And you can build your own rice bowl!

By around 1.30 PM I returned to the train station - all lof this was at walking distance- to visit Hirosaki for the afternoon. It is only 45 minutes on the Ou line, there are even faster trains.

It is mainly famous for Hirosaki Castle, a 17th century castle built by Tsuruga clan. In cherry blossom season, it is said to be the best place in Japan for hanami - cherry blossom viewing. While already the peak time had gone by, it was still beautiful, even fallen leaves on the river.

It only costs 520 yen to visit the castle, the botanical garden and Fujita Memorial Garden, another japanese style garden attached to the castle grounds. The castle was specially pretty with the mountain behind!

The garden also had a few cherry blossoms and a tea house, as well as some western style buildings.

I felt so nostalgic as I sat watching the sakura, as I knew this would be my last time to do so. Coming back to Aomori, I walked around the main shopping street.

Day 4: Joyful train along Sea of Japan (Aomori & Akita)

I was super excited for today, as I was taking my first joyful train in Japan! There are many joufyl trains, you can see the full list here . They are basically scenic trains that have a cool interior, activities, and make stops art different scenic attractions along the way.

The one I took was the Shirakami resort, probably the first and most known joyful train in Japan, that runs from Aomori to Akita, along the Sea of Japan. There are about 2 trains running every day in each direction, it is important to check the timetable and book the tickets beforehand. My tip is to book a box seat, as then you always get a window seat and a table, for this you need to book it at a JR East office, for example I did it in Hachinohe. Else you get a normal seat, that is still pretty, but then make sure to get seat A, window seat.

There are also different trains, changing in type of interior or activities, you can see more information on the website. As I wanted to stop at different stops along the way, I took 2 different trains.

The first train I had a box seat, the was wonderful as you can see the coast so closeby and can even extend the seat so you are almost lyingn down.

After passing Hirosaki at some point they started playing traditional Tsuruga style music, the singers popped in just for that. The train stopped for 15 minutes at Senjojiki to appreciate the coastline.

I got off at Juniko station and took the bus to visit the Juniko lakes. They are located at Shirakami mountains. I had some noodles at the information center and visited Aoike, the blue pond, and hiked inside the forest to visit several other lakes.

As it then started raining, I chose to wait at the information center for the bus, but was quite lucky as I had finished the trail.

I took the bus to Furofushi Onsen, see the timetable here. The joyful train also stopped there, and was kinda backtracking, but due to the timetable, and having yet about 2 hours for the resort, it was better to reach it by bus now. It is only 600 yen, and you get a cloth to cover your body as you soak in the outdoor onsen, that is located just on the sea! It was probably my second favorite onsen in Japan, after Takaragawa Onsen. The waves clashing almost onto the onsen, wow!

There was a mixed bath and a women-only bath, hence the clothe. There is also an indoor onsn but not as amazing, but I coudl relax a bit while having green tea for free. Then the onsen shuttle bus took us to the resort station, where we got back on the next Shirakami resort train. It was a different style this time, with even a bar.

I arrived Akita station around 19.30 PM. At Mugendo izakaya I tired the typical kiritampo nabe, a hot pot dish with rice cakes (kiritampo) and other vetables. Quite interesting. I spent the night at a nearby hostel.

Day 5: Kakunodate samurai village (Akita)

It was my last day of this Tohoku trip, and also my last day using shinkansen in Japan (probably), so was feeling a bit low. But I soon got up and running to explore a bit of Akita. In fact, I did not know much about Akita, except that it is the birthplace of the Akita dog breed, and as such, the Hachiko dog.

In the morning I took a brief walk around Akita city, mainly Senshuu park. It has a pond, shrine and even castle ruins. There were many people walking their dogs, including Akita dogs. I had read it was possible to see more of these dogs near the station too, but it seemed to be on selected days.

Taking the Akita shinkansen I arrived at Kakunodate, where I would spend my last day. It is known for its self-preserved samurai district and merchant residences from the Edo period.

The samurai district was about 20 minute walk from the station, and you can also get a map at the tourist office with all the samurai residences you can visit. On the way I passed the Ando house, specialising in soy sauce and miso paste products, where I could taste different types, and even sit down, all for free.

I had lunch at Shokusai Machiyakan - I tried inaniwa udon, a thick and chewy udon typical of Akita region. Then it was just about walking along the main street of the samurai district, stopping to see different residences, that are just as they were in Edo period. I visited Aoyagi and Ishiguro houses, specially Aoyagi was big, with a nice garden, and also allowing you too see several interior houses. Ishiguro required a half-guided tour, and only allows you to see a limited area - but it is because the original dasamurai descendants are still living there, and is shown by actual family members!

There are also several places to stop for a bite. I also took a sneak peek to an Akita dog!

I walked a bit along the river, hoping to cathch some cherry blossoms, but it was late in the month. But I was still happy to have seen them in Hirosaki. By around 5 PM I returned to the station, to take my last shinkansen back to Tokyo, taking 2.50 hours to Omiya station on the Akita shinkansen.

I would definitely say Tohoku is an area worth exploring, although I understand maybe not on a tight Japan schedule, but definitely for nature, it is an unmissable escape, and more so with the JR East Tohoku pass :)