Hey everyone, I’m looking for any last minute suggestions on my Tohoku Roadtrip itinerary for the end of the month. This has been revised a few times due to early blooming so I’m hoping the timing works now since there’s not much more I can change on that front. Any comments are appreciated!
4/22 – Tokyo
– land in Tokyo 2pm
– check into hotel In ginza (want to be close to the station for early shinkansen the next morning)
– looking for a higher end teppanyaki for dinner reservations. Open to suggestions 🙂
– back to hotel for good night’s sleep.
4/23 – Hirosaki
– early morning shinkansen to shin-aomori (already booked)
– rental car reserved near aomori station
– quick stop at the nebuta museum and lunch in aomori city (hopefully some curry ramen!)
– drive to hirosaki check into hotel then walk to the castle park. At this point hopefully the blossoms are still beautiful and the moats are lined with petals. The peak bloom is now projected for 4/17 so we are about a week into it. Originally hirosaki was our last stop on the trip but we had to reverse everything. Any comments from people who know more would be great.
– rest of the night would be exploring the city. Would love to find some live shamisen performances of anyone knows a good spot let me know!
4/24 – Hirosaki
– early start drive toTsuru no Maihashi Bridge
– next stop Iwakiyama-jinja Shrine
– back to hirosaki for the rest of the evening.
4/25 – Miyako
– early start long ride to unosu cliffs. Plan to make some stops along the way since the drive goes through hachihone and along the coast.
– explore unosu cliffs and coastline caves.
– end up in Miyako for relaxing evening after long day of exploring.
4/26 – ichinoseki or hiraizumi (suggestion?)
– drive from Miyako to the Giebikei Gorge for boat ride
– drive to chusonji temple to do some afternoon exploring.
– end up in either ichinoseki or hiraizumi, whichever has the best food lol any suggestion is appreciated.
4/27 – kaminoyama onsen
– drive to yamdera for morning walk
– explore area around yamdera get lunch.
– drive to Ryokan on kaminoyama onsen for relaxing evening in room with private onsen and kaiseki dinner.
4/28 – Sendai
– after breakfast drive to okama crater
– drive to Sendai explore the city. Not totally planned on this so suggestions are welcome here.
– drop off rental car, Roadtrip is over time for public transit.
4/29 – Tokyo
– Early shinkansen back to Tokyo.
– shopping and eating ikebukuro and shinjuku.
– pokemon Center and Animate new store.
4/30 – Tokyo
– day trip to Kamakura to elhime and explore.
5/1 – Tokyo
– Akihabara for anime shopping and pokemon card hunting. More food and shopping. Possibly Shibuya.
5/2 – flight home late afternoon
– last minute shopping and eat as much as we can before leaving.
Thanks for looking!
2 comments
All I have for you is Sendai, since I went there specifically to fulfill my obligations to adore Date Masamune and all his works. The famous statue of Date on his horse is currently down for renovations/restoration, not sure how long that will be, so exploring the Sendai (Aoba) castle ruins right now is kind of a crapshoot. Not worth it if you’re not a fan of history, because there’s not much else to see, but if you even like history or the Date clan a little bit, still worth going for the gift shop and the view of Sendai below Aoba-yama. Zuihoden is very beautiful, though, so if you want some history, it’s a good thing to visit.
Get the Loople day pass if you plan to visit 2-3 or more of the stops, because many of them offer discounts to entry passes. For example, we visited Zuihoden, the castle ruins, and the Miyagi Museum of Art, and the Loople pass covered transportation plus discounts at all those places. If you’re only planning to visit one or two, though, it’s not worth the cost. I think the Sendai tourism website has info on all the stops.
That said, if nothing else, the shotengai complex of Sun Mall, Vlandome, etc is a good place to waste time, find weird restaurants, and people-watch. The coolest spot is the 100 Markets yokocho area, though I passed on going into any of the bars/restaurants. The Rock and Roll Musuem (not a museum, an izakaya) looked really fuckin’ cool but I couldn’t tell if it was smoking-allowed or not and didn’t want to chance breathing smoke. Most of those places ope after 5-6pm though, so daytime would be for shopping if you like that sort of thing. I don’t, but it was a nice escape from a cold rain.
Just a suggestion for Teppanyaki;
[Akasaka](https://anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp/en/dine/teppanyaki-akasaka/) in the ANA Intercontinental has some great views, serves the best wagyu, has English speaking staff, is just 2 metro stations from Ginza.