Hi,
I hope you’re doing well!
I’m arriving Haneda on the 3rd of August, planning to do the following itinerary I already have the hotels booked, I’m buying ‘JR East-South Hokkaido Rail Pass’ when available, my departure point will be Ueno.
I will do sightseen till the event I want to see is due.
Akita – 秋田市 on 04-Aug-23: Kanto Matsuri – 竿燈まつり, hotel in Ōmagari – 大曲駅 as there is none available, maybe a first stop in Kakunodate 角館.
Inakadate – 田舎館村
& Hirosaki – 弘前市 on 05-Aug-2023: Rice Field 1 & 2 田舎館村田んぼアート 第 1-2 会場 & Hirosaki Neputa – 弘前ねぷた祭り, sleeping in Hakodate.
Hakodate – 函館市 on 06-Aug-23: sightseen, sleeping in Hakodate.
Aomory – 青森市 on 07-Aug-23: Aomori Nebuta – 青森ねぶた奉り, sleeping in Hakodate.
Sendai – 仙台市 on 08-Aug-23: Sendai Tanabata 仙台七夕まつり & Sazae Temple 会津さざえ堂 (円通三匝堂) sleeping in Aizuwakamatsu.
09-Aug-23: Ouchijuku 福島県南会津にある【大内宿】は and come back to Ueno, this one I’m not so sure/confident as is too much effort for one town, that is not sure will be that good, but I want to use the pass as much as possible and I run out of ideas.
What do you think, is this doable or way to pressurised?
Cheers,
E
3 comments
This is a lot of festivals (standing around in the sun to reserve a good viewing spot, hot, crowded, etc.) but to each their own.
* Presumably Aomori is all booked out on your dates, but can you sleep in Morioka instead of Hakodate? The trip back and forth between Aomori / Hirosaki and Hakodate is extremely annoying because of the transfer from the Shinkansen station in Hokuto to Hakodate proper. It’s also more flexible in the event you decide you have seen enough of the festivals and would rather do normal touristing in Tohoku.
* The JR pass does not cover the bus to Ouchijuku, which by the way is tiny and takes at most one hour to see. Possibly controversial, but IMO it is not worth the hassle especially if you have already been to Shirakawago, Kayabuki no Sato etc. You could see Aizu-Wakamatsu itself if you like, or do more stuff around Sendai such as Yamadera.
* Other ideas for day trips: Nikko (on the way back to Ueno), Hiraizumi, Oirase Gorge day trip (the bus fare is covered by the Japan Rail Pass and by some JR East passes).
I did almost this exact thing with the one festival per day timeline.
The biggest issue was transportation. Last train is much earlier outside of the major cities and are also much more infrequent than you may think. Buses were worse. We got stranded once in Hirosaki after the festival because of early last train times and also had to leave Kanto Matsuri early to get back to our airbnb because of the same issue. Commuting to and from evening festivals is a nightmare (and a reason why people book accomodation half a year in advance to get in-town hotels and inns). So I would urge you to manage expectations and have a backup plan ready.
If you want to be able to see things up close, be prepared to stake out a spot an hour or two before the festivals begin. People will already have put down tarps to secure spots (do not move these, it’s rude) so it’ll be easy to see where you can squeeze yourself into a great location.
If I were to do it again, I would take a train to Morioka and rent a car for the rest of the journey. So much of Tohoku is inaccessible by public transport and there are some really neat areas outside the city areas.
I would have also spent more time in Aomori (be sure to get some apple ice cream!!!).
Best of luck!
Last year I did something similar on the JR East Tohoku Pass with almost the exact same dates:
Day 1 – Sansa Odori (Morioka)
Day 2 – Kanto Matsuri (Akita)
(I had planned to take that sightseeing train along the coast, but instead had to take 5 hours’ worth of trains and buses because the tracks were washed out by rain. Hope you don’t suffer the same fate!)
Day 3 – Tachineputa (Goshogawara) [This was a recommendation from another Redditor as I originally had Hirosaki planned, and it was absolutely amazing – the tachineputa are 25m tall and the museum that houses them during the day is **wonderful**]
Day 4 – Nebuta/Fireworks Festival (Aomori) [On the last day they parade the winning floats along the waterfront in barges and then have a big fireworks show. The fireworks kept getting interrupted b/c there was no wind so the smoke lingered – kinda wish I’d been able to see the ‘true’ Nebuta parade in Aomori but honestly Goshogawara was such a unique experience]
Day 5 – Return to Tokyo
I arranged all of this within a week of the trip, including hotels near each station. Might not be cheap, but definitely achievable if you watch Agoda like a hawk.