One of our favourite things to do (Japan or elsewhere) is “Bencha Drive”. I.e. driving around in places we’ve never been, following our noses, checking out roads we think look interesting, fantasizing about where we’d want to live.
***COVID DISCLAIMER:***
* ***My wife works from home. I study online. Neither one of us have taken any form of public transport, shopped at a supermarket, eaten indoors at a restaurant, or even used an elevator since mid-March.***
* ***We wear our masks, wash our hands and live off Amazon Fresh deliveries.***
* ***I have pre-existing conditions that put me at risk should I become infected.***
* ***We live in a low-occupancy serviced apartment in a low density area. Bi-weekly kombini trips are done late-night or early-morning.***
* ***At the time of posting this, we are 6 days out from our planned departure. Kombini trips and our usual weekly housecleaning will not be happening this week. If either of us show any symptoms between now and Saturday, the trip will be cancelled.***
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So…
My wife and I are Australians living in Tokyo. Two thirds of our way through a 15 month stay. Late-30’s going on mid-60’s. No kids. Looking forward to driving around rural Tohoku for 7 nights (Sat 22nd – Sat 29th Aug).
Had originally planned to catch the shinkansen up from Tokyo then explore the area via a series of dorky train rides. Covid means it is now a driving holiday, which suits us fine.
On Day 1 we’re driving straight from Tokyo to **Lake Tazawa** (Akita) for a 2 night stay. From there we drive north to **Lake Towada** (Aomori) for 2 nights. Then east to **Miyako** (Iwate) for 2 more nights. Finally we stop in Sendai for 1 night on our way back to Tokyo.
Our favourite thing to do (Japan or elsewhere) is Bencha Drive™. I.e. driving adventurously to places we’ve never been, following our noses, taking whichever road looks most-interesting, and fantasizing about which completely unattainable house we want to live.
All accommodation is booked. Breakfast & dinner are included everyday except dinner on last night in Sendai. Outside of that we have no concrete plans. We’d love any advice you can offer on what to do (outdoors) during the day and where to get lunch.
Lastly… probably a long shot… but we’re hoping to take the prettiest-possible (non-toll) routes on Day 3 (Tawaza->Towada) and Day 5 (Towada->Miyako). If you happen to have driven these routes or know the areas well, we’d love any advice you can give. Very happy to take a longer route if it means a nicer/quieter drive.
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**Goals:**
* Escape the heat of Tokyo
* See as many trees and as few people as possible
* Drive through cute little towns
* Enjoy regional cuisine
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**Note:**
* Accommodation & car hire is already booked and paid for.
* I speak a little bit of Japanese (lower-Intermediate)
* We’ll be avoiding toll roads and highways where possible. Days 2-7 especially.
* Budget: happy to spend
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|Day 1|Leave Tokyo at 7am. Brief stops every 2 hours. Arrive Lake Tawaza by 4pm. (Approx drive time of 7-8 hours).|
|:-|:-|
|Day 2|Enjoy Lake Tozawa and surrounds. *(Suggestions welcome. Nothing planned as yet. Lunch spot?)*|
|Day 3|Drive \~3hrs north to Lake Towada. Stop for lunch somewhere along the way. *(Unsure whether to drive N/NE past Mount Hachimantai, or N/NW past Kitaakita and Odate.* [Route options.](https://imgur.com/nCQNlpE)|
|Day 4|Enjoy Lake Towada and surrounds. *(All suggestions welcome.)*|
|Day 5|Drive 4-5hrs to Miyako. Lunch and scenery along the way. (*Again unsure of route. Thinking the coastal drive will be nice? Are we missing anything amazing by not taking the inland road?* [Route options.](https://imgur.com/6d8X8dt)|
|Day 6|Enjoy Miyako and surrounds. (Suggestions welcome. Maybe a swim and picnic nearby?|
|Day 7|\~4hr coastal drive south to Sendai. *(Ocean swim somewhere along the way? Open-air / outdoor beef tongue restaurant for dinner that night?.* [Route.](https://imgur.com/wEBtnqz)|
|Day 8|Toll road drive back to Tokyo. *(Suggestions for lunch stop along the way?)*|
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Thank you,
D.
9 comments
I have no suggestions but just wanted to say this trip sounds amazing!
I would suggest coastal drive to Miyako, you won’t be missing much inland (although the view is pretty amazing)
Miyako, definitely do Jodogahama, nice for swimming and picknick. Yamada and Otsuchi have great beaches as well (Namita in Otsuchi/Kirikiri is pretty famous for surfing. There’sa great traditional tea-house /wagashiya in Kirikiri as well.)
On the other side of Miyako, I often take visitors to the Ryusendo caves in Iwaizumi, nice to cool of and pretty cool, there’s a great Italian restaurant with amazing seafood pasta nearby that I can recommend
The road between Tazawako and Towadako was part of my mamachari trip from Yamagata to Northern Hokkaido. It’s a fantastic road.
There’s not much along there and a lot of the buildings are boarded up (I assume from the local population dying off), but on the way up the mountain road there are some amazing onsen down a road to the right. I went into one with a mountain view and dark brown water and had the place to myself.
The owner was surprised to see me but was happy to make me some udon.
At the top of the pass there’s a nice wildflower walk (watch out for bears).
Down the other side there is a wonderful shop that sells local produce and shortly after that you can find some stone circles from 8 to 10,000 years ago.
If you made a side trip from there, you can also find, “Jesus’ tomb”…
Unosu cliff was a highlight of road tripping through Iwate for me. The visibility from the cliff was bad the day I was there, but there’s a hike down to the beach (quite steep at times) where you can explore the rocky beach and caves, bring a flashlight
I’ve saved this thread: this is exactly the sort of thing we love to do in Japan too (although our next trip will have to wait until the pandemic is over!)
I really hope you come back with another post to tell us how it went!
Since you’d be driving around, I’m not sure how much you fancy hiking? Akita Komagatake does seem like a nice spot for hiking and is featured in this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk4VdT5e_wg. (Unfortunately I was there in the middle of the winter so no hiking for me!). But even if not, gorgeous views of Lake Tozawa from the surrounding hills.
Also the onsen around that area are gorgeous and well worth checking out (especially Tsuru-no-yu).
I did this in winter, hugging the coast on both sides. It was more of a cook’s tour without a lot of stops, but shows how far you can go in one week without taking any toll roads. I highly recommend the Sea of Japan side. Oga Peninsula is amazing.
[http://kakuekiclub.com/tohoku-loop-in-winter/](http://kakuekiclub.com/tohoku-loop-in-winter/)
Sounds like a great trip, would love to do this someday. Have fun!
Must visit nyuto onsen. Was it in your itinerary?