Aomori trip
Hello again from Japan, where it's currently the end of the Obon break, and we've just had the first typhoon of the season. Tokyo was spared the worst of the storm, but weather is unpredictable at the best of times, so who knows if there will be more on the way soon. I've just returned from a trip to the very north of Honshu, Aomori prefecture, and let me tell you, it was so refreshing to escape the hustle and bustle of Tokyo for a few days. Not only was Aomori not as busy as Tokyo and other major tourist destinations in Japan, it also wasn't as hot, which was such a blessing.
I arrived on Sunday afternoon and checked into the hotel. My friend Rhiannon was unable to get on the same shinkansen as me due to tickets being sold out, and she was scheduled to arrive later in the evening, leaving me a couple of hours to wander around before then. We were staying in a hotel on the main street, so I set off to explore. That afternoon there was live music playing, and the atmosphere was vibrant, but not crazy, which was nice. I then went to meet Rhiannon at Shin-Aomori station, where the shinkansen stops. After unloading her bags, she informed me there was a famous ramen restaurant not too far from our hotel that served a local variety of ramen - miso curry milk ramen- and we decided we had to sample this for ourselves. We joined a long queue outside the restaurant, and got chatting to a German couple who had been exploring all of the Tohoku region including Sendai, Akita, and Hirosaki. We ate together and then grabbed a couple of drinks afterwards at a bar called Ichi, which had a variety of sake, cocktails and wines and a relaxed atmosphere.
The next day we devoured a buffet breakfast at our hotel (which included ice cream- ice cream for breakfast can you believe?) and set off for the historical Sannai Maruyama village, about a 20 minute bus ride away. This village was a large settlement in the Jomon period (approx 3900 BC-2200 BC), and excavation began in 1992. It unearthed pottery, graves, precious wood and bone objects and more. The pit buildings and pillar buildings have mostly been reconstructed, but it gives you an idea of the way people lived back then.
After spectacularly messing up the bus timetable and having to wait an hour for the next bus, we made it back to Aomori station. Luckily the next two things on the agenda were right next to each other, and right next to the station. The first of these was the Nebuta museum, which showcases floats from the Nebuta festival, a famous festival held every year in both Aomori city and Hirosaki city. Nebuta refers to the float of a brave warrior-figure which is carried through the city, while dancers wear a unique costume called a haneto. We missed the festival by about a week unfortunately, but they put the floats from this year's festival in the museum the day after the festival finishes, so we got to see the ones from this year's festival, which was cool. I was expecting to see floats from previous years too, but unfortunately not. They were still beautiful, and are very intricately designed and made.
The next stop was the A-Factory, a cider factory. Aomori is famous for apples, so that means apple cider! Apple cider is difficult to find in Japan, and is not a common drink to see on the menu at bars and restaurants, so I was excited to try some from this area. There was a shop on the ground floor selling all things apple themed, and of course cider. On the second floor, there is a tasting area. You can purchase a 300 yen, 600 yen or 900 yen card that you insert into a machine and you can choose from 8 varieties of cider. They have small, medium or large sample sizes available. The small is 100 yen, medium is 200 yen and large is 300 yen. This means you can either try a small amount of each one, or if there's one that you really like you can get a larger sample. I preferred the sweeter varieties as opposed to the drier varieties, but it was good to get a taste of everything.
We then tried to find somewhere to have a late lunch, but many places were closed between lunch and dinner, so we ended up heading back to the hotel for an hour or so before going out for an early dinner at an izakaya near the hotel.
Bright and early the following day, we were up and catching a bus to Oirase gorge, about 2 hours from Aomori station. There is a walking track you can follow along the river, and it takes you to Nenokuchi, which is beside Lake Towada. It took us about 3 hours to walk from Ishigedo to Nenokuchi (I'll insert a map here for anyone who wants to check it out).
Again, we were left hanging waiting for a bus back to Aomori, but managed to find apple flavoured ice cream and all was well. The bus ride from Nenokuchi back to Aomori station was about 3 hours. It was a stunning walk, with many waterfalls and lush greenery to see. The only thing was that it follows the road, so you feel calm and peaceful, and then you'll see and hear cars coming, which was a bit strange, but that aside, it's definitely worth a look. It wasn't a hard walk, mostly flat, and there's spectacular scenery.
We made it back to Aomori at about 6pm, headed straight back to the hotel for a much needed freshen up before venturing out for some dinner. Rhiannon looked up some restaurants before leaving the hotel, a Vietnamese place and a Chinese place. Upon arriving at the Vietnamese place, we discovered it was closed. No problem we said, we'll try the Chinese place. Got there to find it was also dead empty. By this point we were both a bit hangry and tired after our full on day. Eventually we settled for a Korean restaurant, which turned out to be pretty damn good. I had a tasty makgeolli (Korean rice wine) and bibimbap and the hanger subsided.
Our final day began with the last buffet breakfast :'( and then a stop at Starbucks to see if they had any cute regional merchandise. We then wandered over to the Aomori Tourist Centre, which is a pretty impressive building and it has many souvenirs to purchase (all apple themed obviously). We then quickly went back to the hotel, grabbed our bags and checked out before saying goodbye to Aomori.
Overall, I'd really recommend a trip up to Aomori if you want to get off the beaten track and explore a bit more of the less touristy areas. I think Aomori and northern Japan in general is extremely underrated. Although it does require slightly more planning in some areas (ie less regular trains and buses means allowing extra time), and the shop assistants, hotel staff etc don't speak quite as much English as they do in the major cities, visiting this region will give you a really authentic and unique Japanese experience.
My next trip is relatively soon actually (two and a half weeks away!) with a friend from New Zealand, who will be in Japan for a couple of weeks. Tour guide/translator mode will be activated again! I'll be back in the Tohoku area, but this time we'll be exploring Sendai.
Thanks for reading, and I hope this has inspired you to plan a trip to northern Japan. Stay tuned for another update!
From Japan, with love,
Hannah.xx
I arrived on Sunday afternoon and checked into the hotel. My friend Rhiannon was unable to get on the same shinkansen as me due to tickets being sold out, and she was scheduled to arrive later in the evening, leaving me a couple of hours to wander around before then. We were staying in a hotel on the main street, so I set off to explore. That afternoon there was live music playing, and the atmosphere was vibrant, but not crazy, which was nice. I then went to meet Rhiannon at Shin-Aomori station, where the shinkansen stops. After unloading her bags, she informed me there was a famous ramen restaurant not too far from our hotel that served a local variety of ramen - miso curry milk ramen- and we decided we had to sample this for ourselves. We joined a long queue outside the restaurant, and got chatting to a German couple who had been exploring all of the Tohoku region including Sendai, Akita, and Hirosaki. We ate together and then grabbed a couple of drinks afterwards at a bar called Ichi, which had a variety of sake, cocktails and wines and a relaxed atmosphere.
The next day we devoured a buffet breakfast at our hotel (which included ice cream- ice cream for breakfast can you believe?) and set off for the historical Sannai Maruyama village, about a 20 minute bus ride away. This village was a large settlement in the Jomon period (approx 3900 BC-2200 BC), and excavation began in 1992. It unearthed pottery, graves, precious wood and bone objects and more. The pit buildings and pillar buildings have mostly been reconstructed, but it gives you an idea of the way people lived back then.
After spectacularly messing up the bus timetable and having to wait an hour for the next bus, we made it back to Aomori station. Luckily the next two things on the agenda were right next to each other, and right next to the station. The first of these was the Nebuta museum, which showcases floats from the Nebuta festival, a famous festival held every year in both Aomori city and Hirosaki city. Nebuta refers to the float of a brave warrior-figure which is carried through the city, while dancers wear a unique costume called a haneto. We missed the festival by about a week unfortunately, but they put the floats from this year's festival in the museum the day after the festival finishes, so we got to see the ones from this year's festival, which was cool. I was expecting to see floats from previous years too, but unfortunately not. They were still beautiful, and are very intricately designed and made.
The next stop was the A-Factory, a cider factory. Aomori is famous for apples, so that means apple cider! Apple cider is difficult to find in Japan, and is not a common drink to see on the menu at bars and restaurants, so I was excited to try some from this area. There was a shop on the ground floor selling all things apple themed, and of course cider. On the second floor, there is a tasting area. You can purchase a 300 yen, 600 yen or 900 yen card that you insert into a machine and you can choose from 8 varieties of cider. They have small, medium or large sample sizes available. The small is 100 yen, medium is 200 yen and large is 300 yen. This means you can either try a small amount of each one, or if there's one that you really like you can get a larger sample. I preferred the sweeter varieties as opposed to the drier varieties, but it was good to get a taste of everything.
We then tried to find somewhere to have a late lunch, but many places were closed between lunch and dinner, so we ended up heading back to the hotel for an hour or so before going out for an early dinner at an izakaya near the hotel.
Bright and early the following day, we were up and catching a bus to Oirase gorge, about 2 hours from Aomori station. There is a walking track you can follow along the river, and it takes you to Nenokuchi, which is beside Lake Towada. It took us about 3 hours to walk from Ishigedo to Nenokuchi (I'll insert a map here for anyone who wants to check it out).
Again, we were left hanging waiting for a bus back to Aomori, but managed to find apple flavoured ice cream and all was well. The bus ride from Nenokuchi back to Aomori station was about 3 hours. It was a stunning walk, with many waterfalls and lush greenery to see. The only thing was that it follows the road, so you feel calm and peaceful, and then you'll see and hear cars coming, which was a bit strange, but that aside, it's definitely worth a look. It wasn't a hard walk, mostly flat, and there's spectacular scenery.
We made it back to Aomori at about 6pm, headed straight back to the hotel for a much needed freshen up before venturing out for some dinner. Rhiannon looked up some restaurants before leaving the hotel, a Vietnamese place and a Chinese place. Upon arriving at the Vietnamese place, we discovered it was closed. No problem we said, we'll try the Chinese place. Got there to find it was also dead empty. By this point we were both a bit hangry and tired after our full on day. Eventually we settled for a Korean restaurant, which turned out to be pretty damn good. I had a tasty makgeolli (Korean rice wine) and bibimbap and the hanger subsided.
Our final day began with the last buffet breakfast :'( and then a stop at Starbucks to see if they had any cute regional merchandise. We then wandered over to the Aomori Tourist Centre, which is a pretty impressive building and it has many souvenirs to purchase (all apple themed obviously). We then quickly went back to the hotel, grabbed our bags and checked out before saying goodbye to Aomori.
Overall, I'd really recommend a trip up to Aomori if you want to get off the beaten track and explore a bit more of the less touristy areas. I think Aomori and northern Japan in general is extremely underrated. Although it does require slightly more planning in some areas (ie less regular trains and buses means allowing extra time), and the shop assistants, hotel staff etc don't speak quite as much English as they do in the major cities, visiting this region will give you a really authentic and unique Japanese experience.
My next trip is relatively soon actually (two and a half weeks away!) with a friend from New Zealand, who will be in Japan for a couple of weeks. Tour guide/translator mode will be activated again! I'll be back in the Tohoku area, but this time we'll be exploring Sendai.
Thanks for reading, and I hope this has inspired you to plan a trip to northern Japan. Stay tuned for another update!
From Japan, with love,
Hannah.xx
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