After three years in Japan, it’s time for me to move on. Before I do though, I want to take the time to explore the one area I haven’t set foot on yet; Tohoku. I’ve been to every prefecture west of Fuji-san (save Okinawa) but have barely been north of Tokyo (except thrice to Hokkaido.) So after I leave my job in March, my plan is to go up the west coast and down the east.By the way, I realize my schedule will be pretty ambitious, but I’m used to this style of travel at this point; I did every prefecture in Kyushu in eight days, and Toyama to Shimonoseki in five, though the trips were both hardly as thorough as I’d like. Also, car rental appears to be out of the question, as much of a boon as that would be.
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|Day 0: Evening or night Bus to Niigata|Sleep in Niigata||
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|Day 1: Niigata, Yonezawa|Minato Marche Pier, Tsuruga castle, train to Yonezawa (last chance train at 5:15pm)|Would love to hear about other interesting things to do in or near Niigata city, this is mostly just to check it off my list of prefectures|
|Day 2: Yonezawa, Yamagata, Ginzan|Uesugi Shrine, Yonezawa Beef, Train to Yamagata, Ginzan Onsen (last chance train shinkansen 4:50pm arrives at 6:24pm)|Should I plan on arriving at Ginzan while it’s still light out?|
|Day 3; Tsuruoka, Akita|First bus to Haguro Pagoda at 8:20am, 3 train transfers) come back down, (last chance train from Tsuruoka to Akita at 8:48 PM-11:09)|Akita is another one i’m mostly crossing off, so if people have cool stuff to do here please let me know|
|Day 4 (maybe 2 days): Hirosaki, Aomori|Train to Owani (first at 7:30am), bus to Hirosaki castle (complete original castles), train to Aomori City, Seikan Tunnel Museum if open, look for public transit access to Osore-Zan Bodai-ji temple|I was planning on visiting Oma at the northern tip of Honshu, but having just been to Hakodate and looking at the poor public transit access I don’t think it’ll be worth the trip. Anyone been out that way? Osore-zan Bodai-ji looks beautiful)|
|Optional: Hachimantai National Park|8am bus from Aomori station: Hakkoda Ropeway Sanroku Station, Sukayu Onsen, Oirase Gorge, Towadako (lava domes?)|I heard about these lava domes near Towadako but haven’t found much information about them. Anyone interested in Geology who can tell me more?|
|Day 5: Morioka, Ichinoseki, Ishinomaki|Explore Morioka briefly, spend time around Ichinoseki, last chance from Ichinoseki at 8:22pm, two transfers||
|Day 6: Ishnomaki, Sendai|Hiyoriyama Park, Matsushima Overlook, Daikannon, Zuihoden Temple, Date Masamune, shop/explore|This would be my opportunity to access Mt Zao, but it doesn’t seem like there are public transit access options up to the mountain. Anyone know better?|
|Day 7: Hitachinaka (Mito Station)|Train at 7:18 am, Earthquake and Disaster memorial Museum, sleep in Hitachinaka (last train at 8:20 PM arrives at 11:30pm)|Other access option ideas?|
|Day 8: Utsunomiya, Nikko|Hitachi Seaside park at sunrise, train to Utsunomiya and explore, train to Nikko, Abyss, Waterfall, Bridge, Tokugawa shrine, lake, sleep in Nikko|I don’t have anything marked to do in Utsunomiya, but it is a big city I haven’t been to yet, so I’ll at least get a bite to eat|
|Day 9: Maebashi (Gunma)|Bus up to Akagi-san, Nagatoro, sleep in Saitama|Tips on Maebashi or the surrounding area? There’s a volcano observatory in Gunma I want to go to, but I suspect it’ll still be closed when i’m in the area.|
|Day 10: Saitama, Tokyo, maybe Chiba|Ryu-Q Kan, Skytree if it’s a nice day, museums, Palace if it’s open||
|Possible bonus days:|||
|Day 11: Kyoto|Shinkansen, Kyoto cleanup, Kobe cleanup, Kobe night view (complete night views), Sleep in Kobe||
|Day 12: Hiroshima|Shinkansen to Hiroshima, Kure, Yamato museum, Kintai bridge, train to Ube Shinkawa, continue on to Fukuoka if possible||
|Day 13: Fukuoka|Explore (tons of markers on my map), stay in capsule hotel at the airport and fly to Okinawa the following morning. (would love to get to Takachiho but that’s just too far and hard to get to, even if I add an extra day to my plan)||
|Day 14: Okinawa (last prefecture)|Beach, food, Explore as much as possible in a single day (not a priority), fly “home” for final packing.||
There’s really no reason I couldn’t flip the direction and start Tokyo-end Niigata as well, which I might need to do in order to get the rail pass.
I’d probably pack five days of clothes with a pair of sturdy shoes that are ready to be thrown out and a good hoodie with a waterproof windbreaker and umbrella just in case, not to mention my phone, kindle paperwhite and a powerbank. Want to travel light.
Anyway, thanks for any thoughts or suggestions you might have. Thank you very much for reading.
8 comments
For your trip from Akita to Hirosaki you could take the Shirakami Sightseeing train along the coast. It’s covered by the JR East Tohoku Pass and gives you gorgeous views of the sea. I’d also highly recommend visiting Kakunodate for the Samurai Houses and, if you time it right, cherry blossoms.
– [My Trip Report: Aomori/Akita: Cherry Blossoms and Samurai History using the 5-day JR East Tohoku Pass](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/nahtfk/chasing_cherry_blossoms_in_aomori_and_samurai/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
We also loved our visit to Aizuwakamatsu and the castle/samurai history there is really interesting. We went in mid-February for the Painted Castle festival but the castle there is also supposed to have a cherry blossom light up. There’s also Ouchi Juku village nearby.
– [My Trip Report: Fukushima: Samurai History and Painted Candle Illumination in Aizuwakamatsu (mid-Feb)](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/metuf4/samurai_history_in_aizuwakamatsu_in_fukushima/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
In Utsunomiya, take some time to visit the Oya Stone History museum/underground quarry. It’s really unique.
– [My Trip Report: Tokyo Day Trip: Utsunomiya Gyoza and Oya Stone](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/mv766x/tokyo_day_trip_utsunomiya_gyoza_and_oya_stone/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
In Nikko, I’d recommend staying at this inn. It’s not far from the main shrine sites and has private onsen you can freely use for no extra charge.
– [Akarinoyado Villa Revage](https://goo.gl/maps/7w8PvDGTHzC6WHXc7)
The Ibaraki/Tochigi itineraries are a bit much, especially if you’re reliant on public transport. And coming from Sendai it’s much easier to go to Utsunomiya first.
As another poster suggested I would also like to throw in a vote for Kakunodate while you are in Akita. I would also suggest for your travel from to Hirosaki you consider taking the Nairiku line from Kakunodate to Takanosu as it’s a gorgeous trip.
For your trip to Ginzan onsen, keep in mind that the periodic buses do fill up and they are extremely infrequent. During the busy periods the vast majority of travelers end up resorting to taxis, which they themselves aren’t super frequent.
https://www.akita-nairiku.com/en/
It’s not covered by the JR pass but it isn’t expensive at all. The trip from Takanosu to Hirosaki is covered by the JR pass.
In the Aomori leg, the trip to Hakkoda is a pretty big time sink and really constrained by infrequent buses.
For a day in Hiroshima I would recommend Miyajima if you haven’t been.
Yikes. This is…a lot.
There’s just a lot of unreasonable planning here. For example, Hitachi Seaside Park, Utsunomiya AND Nikko in a single day? Your Nikko itinerary alone is t doable unless you start in Nikko in the early AM having been there the night before. Nikko takes a full day; Utsunomiya is really only worth a stop for dinner on your way through or back home to Tokyo for a quick gyoza snack. It’s a commuter city. Nikko is best seen in two days. If you’ve never been, don’t rush it.
Hitachi Seaside Park is HUGE and not exactly close to Nikko. Also, you’ll miss cool things nestled in that general region like Mashiko, Nakagawa, Nasu, etc.
Museums in Tokyo take time and close on the early side. You’re not going to see much if you’re doing something in Saitama in the morning. A single gallery at the National Museum might take 2-3 hours alone.
Akita is a cool city and worth being around for dinner time (great izakayas and nightlife), but you’re planning on getting there late. Kakunodate is a cute town, maybe only takes 2-3 hours.
Hirosaki will take a day; when I went in late 2021, the castle was closed for COVID, so you might want to check on that. Aomori city wasn’t really what I expected, but I wish the museum and Jomon sites were open (again, COVID). What’s amazing about Aomori is the scenery and nature, not so much the city. I’d prioritize going to a ryokan in the mountains over the cities if it were me.
Your last days are unrealistic. Takachiho (and Miyazaki in general) is beautiful if you’ve never been. I’d personally prioritize that over cramming in places like Kobe. One day in Okinawa? What a waste of time and money.
tl;dr too much packed in too little time. I don’t care how speedy you are; the travel times alone are unrealities.
Just for perspective, I did every Kyushu prefecture in 12 days and RUSHED through after three days in Fukuoka and I barely saw Nagasaki and only drove through Saga. I did the 5 day Tohoku rail pass and did Kakunodate, Akita, Hirosaki, ryokan, Aomori city and Sendai for dinner. Again, super rushed.
>I did every prefecture in Kyushu in eight days, and Toyama to Shimonoseki in five
More than showing that you are able to have ambitious itinerary, this show how little you are ok to see in each prefecture. I think I will need 3 weeks for Kyushu (that is considering I’ve already been to Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Beppu). And I took 2 weeks to move from Fukuoka to Kobe.
I’ve also done a trip before to cover a lot of ground, from Tokyo I went to Nagasaki, then Hakodate, took me 3 weeks. At the end, I went so fast over a lot of regions that now I am returning again to many prefectures I’ve already went to, as I see how much I missed, while I tried to do “as much as I can”. I guess I had this idea of “It might be my last time in Japan” (was my trip at the end of a 1 year working holiday), but I ended up going back 4 times, once every year for 2-3 weeks and I am now taking my time to complete the 47 prefectures (at 37 so far), and I re-visit some prefectures to hit what I missed.
Of course, it’s up to you if you want to complete all the prefectures at all cost.
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Niigata was not a super exciting city for me until I found some flyers that explain how the city was designed, with the streets going toward the sea. By that time, I was kind of running short on time, otherwise I would have spend a bit more time in the small streets just to find interesting sports to take pictures. If you are into art and nature, Tokamachi seems to be an interesting stop.
Considering you want to go to Aizuwakamatsu on that day, you won’t have much time to spend in Niigata anyway. To be honest, there is more than the castle to see there too, there is easily things to fill a full day and would even consider two just to take time to try some ramen in Kitakata.
I guess you will see nothing in Akita. Kakunodate and Lake Tozawa are two of the things I saw in Akita that were nice.
I know that Yamadera is in a lot of people itinerary for Tohoku and if you go, might as well stop by Hiraizumi (that in itself can be a whole day) to do the pilgrimage of the 4 temples of Tohoku.
Nikko is a day in itself for the temple/shrine area, if you want to see the lake and waterfall, then that will require an extra day.
JR East also run a lot of nice trains in Tohoku, [https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/joyful/](https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/joyful/)
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Overall, would not do it. Even If I am ok to change city daily, at least I try to spend a full day in each city.
Try to fit in Yamadera if you’re in Tohoku, probably the nicest place I’ve been there.
Yura beach is pretty cool and you can fish from shore or even surf
So getting to Ginzan is a bit of a pain and will take around an hour thirty each way if you are using the public transit. Its lovely to arrive in the evening and so I’d recommend getting there around 4ish, walk around, see the mines, enjoy dinner and then enjoy the foot onsen at night. If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can get up really early and try to wedge in Yamadera in the morning but doing Yonezawa and Ginzan in the same say is a bit unreasonable as they are on opposite parts of the train line. I would rather recommend just staying in Yamagata City instead to make your life much much easier.
That being said, you should take the bus from Yamagata Station to Tsuruoka Station as its the fastest way to get to Tsuruoka from Yamagatashi. On the way down from Haguro, if you have time, I reccomend checking out either Matsugaoka or Yupoka Onsen! Both are lovely and on the same bus line! Wouldn’t risk the last train to Akita however as the trains are often delayed and you can end up getting stuck.
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Let me know if you have any questions about Yamagata however! I grew up/live here and actually work in the local travel industry!