Help deciding whether to travel north to Aomori or west to Kanazawa from Tokyo in August

I’m debating how to plan my family trip for first two weeks in August in Japan. Flying in/out of Haneda. We don’t want to do the typical Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka itinerary as we’ve been before. Here are a couple options I’m considering:

Option 1 (Tohoku):
Tokyo – Sendai – Morioka – Aomori

It’ll be smack in the middle of their August festivals which could be really fun to experience! Aomori has their Nebuta festival Aug 2-7 and Sendai has Tanabata festival Aug 6-8. However, would it be too crowded? Also, how are these cities/towns to visit during this time of year?

Option 2 (Nagano/Ishikawa):
Tokyo – Nagano (Takayama) – Matsumoto – Kanazawa

I’ve read great things about this region! Smaller cities and towns, beautiful castle in Matsumoto, “little Kyoto”

Is one option better than the other based on our trip duration and time of year? Thanks for any input to help narrow down plans!

by Oodles_Noodles88

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