10 Days in April (Tokyo, Tohoku by JR East Pass)

This trip we started in Tokyo and then ventured north to Tohoku. Figured I would post this since there may now be more interest in regional rail passes with the general rail pass price increase so I’ve included approximate train journey costs in parantheses. We bought not one but two JR East Tohoku Passes.

This was our third trip to Japan. First trip we did in November with Tokyo, autumn foliage in Kyoto, Osaka, Naoshima/Teshima. Second trip was in winter, Sapporo Snow Festival, Otaru, Niseko for skiing.

**Day 1: Tokyo**

* Land at Haneda at 5am
* Pick up JR East Pass via the machine w/ passport (dodged huge lines)
* Transit to Tokyo Station (670 yen)
* Nezu Museum
* Shopping in Aoyama, Omotesando Hills
* Check in to Muji Hotel
* Teamlab Planets

This was my second Teamlabs. I thought the concepts were cool but there were too many people and too many people misbehaving.

**Day 2: Tokyo**

* Toyosu Market for breakfast
* Shopping in Ginza
* 21 21 Design Sight
* Ashikaga Flower Park day and night (RT 9,980 yen)

I didn’t plan to do Toyosu but we were up very early and sushi sounded pretty good. Would not spend normal waking hours devoted to it. I like Tadao Ando architecture so I appreciated 21 21 Design Sight. Ashikaga’s wisteria was in bloom and it was lovely. One of my trip favorites.

**Day 3: Tokyo**

* Ichiran for breakfast
* Nihon Minka-en
* Shimokitazawa
* Drinks in yurakucho

Are there more in vogue ramen shops than Ichirian? Probably, but we’ve done Ichiran every single trip to Japan so it was a nice bit of nostalgia. Nihon Minka-en really surprised us. I thought the natural, hilly surroundings were a huge bonus to the experience. Shimokitazawa was a stretch goal but since it was on the same train home from Nihon Minka-en, it was easy enough to include.

**Day 4: Tokyo/Aomori**

* Ghibli Museum (RT 820 yen)
* Tokyo Station -> Shin Aomori -> Aomori (18,070 yen)
* A Factory
* Aomori scallops for dinner

I had lowered my expectations for Ghibli but they were exceeded. I’m modestly interested in animation but what stood out to me was the wonderful architectural details. By this time, I was pretty beat so the train to Aomori was a nice break.

**Day 5: Aomori/Hirosaki**

* Nebuta Warasse Museum
* Furukawa nokke don
* Train to Hirosaki (680 yen)
* Hirosaki Park (night / day)

Nebuta Warasse was an unexpected highlight. It’s not a lengthy museum but it was very well done. Furukawa wasn’t the greatest fish I’ve ever had but it was good and it was plenty of fun to visit all the stalls to assemble the bowl. We were about 1 day past peak at Hirosaki but there were still many stunning landscapes. It was not too busy and easy to navigate.

**Day 6: Hirosaki/Akita**

* Bike to Apple Park and other parts of Hirosaki
* Fujita Memorial Park
* Resort Shirakami to Akita (9200 yen)
* yakitori in Akita

I was really looking forward to taking the scenic train. I love that you get to get off the train and roam for 10 minutes. We started to slow down so it was nice to have more rest periods.

**Day 7: Akita/Kakunodate**

* Train to Kakunodate (3400 yen)
* Samurai district
* Walk up to Kakunodate Castle for some strenuous activity

The weeping cherry blossoms were green by the time we got there. A teeny bit sad but such is the difficulty of timing sakura.

**Day 8 Kakunodate/Nyuto Onsen**

* Local train to Tazawako since it was only a few minutes slower and timing worked better (330 yen or 2200 yen)
* Bus to Taenoyu
* Nyuto Onsen shuttle bus to Tsurunoyu Onsen
* Kaiseki dinner and then onsen time at hotel

It was nice to onsen and unwind toward the end of the trip. The bus ride was a little long but quite scenic. Taenoyu had great hospitality and good food, would definitely return. Tsurunoyu was pretty rustic, nice for a day trip but unsure about an overnight stay.

**Day 9: Nyuto Onsen/Sendai**

* Tazawako to Sendai (8610 yen)
* Yamadera (1720 yen)
* Shopping in Sendai

Yamadera was a stretch goal but the weather was nice so we went for it. It was so much more relaxing to shop in Sendai rather than Tokyo. Uniqlo, LOFT just seemed to have more stock available.

**Day 10: Sendai/Tokyo**

* Sendai to Tokyo Station (11,810 yen)
* Kappanbashi
* Train/monorail to Haneda (670 yen)
* ANA lounge
* Fly out of Japan at 4pm

I made a list of Japanese kitchen bits that I wanted from my local fancy store and found 70% of them in kappanbashi for far less. My favorite store was Kitchen World TDI. I got a bamboo tskune maker for \~$3.

**Impressions**

Overall, we really enjoyed Tohoku and thought it was a nice change of pace. Our friends said on social media that “everyone was in Japan” and the only time I felt that acutely was at Teamlabs. We favored trying local specialties such as igamenchi, gyutan, and tanpo. We packed very lightly and just opted to use lockers since we had a lightweight carry-on roller suitcase that wasn’t fully filled until the very end.

**JR East Pass**

There were also numerous times where since we had the JR East Pass, we decided to re-enter the paid area to cut through or pick a different more optimal exit. We booked tickets online and picked them up with JR passes. We had picked up our Tazawako train ticket before we left Akita because at some point a JR machine did eat our pass and I was worried that since Tazawako was a small station, it might be tricky to pick up tickets or deal with any issues

Approximate Totals:

Pass 1: 30,220 yen of travel, spent 20,000 yen

Pass 2: 35,410 yen of travel, spent 20,000 yen