Hi everyone,
my fiancé and I have a longer trip to Japan planned for spring 2023. The time of our journey will also include Golden Week, and we were wondering if there are any Golden Week festivals in the Tohoku region that we might want to check out? When I googled, all I found was an article from 2014 suggesting the following:
* Yonezawa Uesugi Matsuri Yonezawa in Yamagata
* Spring Fujiwara Festival Hiraizumi in Iwate
* Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival Hirosaki in Aomori
But for those three festivals, I couldn’t find any up-to-date information for 2023, so I was wondering if someone here has access to more accurate information. I also tried googling in Japanese, but my language skills are not quite sufficient for that yet.
Thanks so much!
2 comments
If you can still change it I would absolutely avoid golden week. The whole country is traveling and everything is crowded, expensive, long wait times etc..
Keep in mind that almost all major festivals have been cancelled in Japan the past 3 years due to Covid. A few were held in 2022 but on a massively scaled down way with almost no publicity (certainly very little in English) to help ensure most attendees were from the local area only. In 2023 it looks like almost all the festivals will be roaring back to normal schedules but it’s possible there still won’t be a lot of publicity in English. Your best bet is to go the official websites or like/follow the social media pages for the prefectures/regions you plan to be in that week as they will often post info on upcoming events there. For example:
– [Visit Tohoku Official Tourism FB page](https://www.facebook.com/TohokuTourism/?mibextid=LQQJ4d)
– [Visit Akita](https://visitakita.com/en/)
– [Aomori Official Tourism Site](https://aomori-tourism.com/en/)
– [Visit Iwate](https://visitiwate.com)
– [Visit Miyagi (Sendai)](https://visitmiyagi.com)
– [Stay Yamagata](https://yamagatakanko.com/en/)
– [Fukushima Official Tourism Site](https://fukushima.travel)
If you can time your travels to be in Hirosaki when the Sakura are blooming there it is magical. So, so gorgeous. Depending on the year, the end of Golden Week or just after *may* be a good time to see sakura in [locations in Hokkaido too.](https://livejapan.com/en/in-hokkaido/in-pref-hokkaido/in-sapporo_chitose/article-a1000132/)
– [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)
– [JapanGuide: Cherry Blossom Forecast](https://www.japan-guide.com/sakura/)
– [Best Cherry Blossom Spots in Tohoku](https://jw-webmagazine.com/cherry-blossom-spots-in-tohoku/)
Tohoku isn’t as traveled a region in Japan by foreign or local tourists so, typically, it’s a *bit* easier to explore during a busy holiday time like Golden Week. But definitely lock in your lodging and train reservations ASAP. If you plan to rent a car to drive book this ASAP too. You can book train ticket up to 30 days in advance. So, if you arrive on 15 March you’ll *probably* be ok getting seat reservations for your time in Tohoku but may not get your #1 choice of train departure times but may be able to get seats on an earlier/later train. Travel activity is anticipated to peak on May 3 with people leaving the large urban centers (especially Tokyo) and on May 6 and 7 in the opposite direction.
– [JapanGuide: Golden Week](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2282.html)
Happy Planning!