Hi Everyone,
My partner and I will be in Japan for work in June, and have 6 days for ourselves. 3 of these days will be spent shopping, eating and seeing friends in Tokyo, and for the other 3, we have decided to take a small trip to somewhere we have never been – Tohoku!
The main attraction we are going for is the Wanko Soba in Morioka (maybe silly I know but its a must do for us), and I have planned a couple of choices for short breaks around this. For the Tohoku experts here, which of these makes more sense, or if neither do, what would you do for three days in Tohoku (including the noodles of course!)? We love food, history and don’t mind lots of train travel!
**Option A**
29 June – Tokyo to Ichinoseki, explore Hiraizumi and Geibikei Gorge, stay Ichinoseki
30 June – Train to Morioka, Wanko Soba, explore Morioka (maybe Koiwai Farm?), stay Morioka
1 July – Train to Sendai, explore Matsushima Bay, train back to Tokyo
**Option B**
29 June – 1st Shinkansen to Akita, explore either Akita city or train out to Oga and explore, stay Akita
30 June – Resort Shirakami to Hirosaki, explore Hiroskai, stay Hirosaki
1 July – Early train to Aomori, Furukawa market for breakfast, train to Morioka, Wanko Soba, Train to Tokyo
Thanks in advance for your help!
4 comments
Option B is not even in the running, unless you switch Akita city for Kakunodate (which would also a be a better option for day 2 of Option A).
If you’re going to go out of the way to experience Tohoku, you should definitely hit Aomori. It’s the pinnacle of Tohoku. Hirosaki, Aomori City, Morioka. Everything else is Tohoku lite. Akita is not really that exciting except for the mountainous parts.
Ichinoseki will take whole day
Better travel the day before
I think you understand and accept that this is very rushed, etc. So with that in mind, I think option a is fine. Definitely would not go with B.
You may consider doing morioka first so your travel time to sendai is a little shorter but it’s not a huge difference.