Itinerary advice for a solo traveler week in North Honshu

Hi folks, I plan to do a six-week solo backpacking trip to Japan in March and April of 2024, and I have some questions regarding a particular section of the trip. My idea is to cover the whole country from North to South. I’ve been there before, but just in the typical area (from Osaka to Tokyo).

The period in question will span seven days (Sunday to Saturday), and it will cover the north of Honshu. Constraints are that on the first day, I will wake up in Hakodate and that on the eighth day I want to be in Fukushima. I plan to stay one day in each of those. I also want to have a buffer day so I can still continue with the trip if something happens (like getting ill).

Given this, my current itinerary is the following:

* **Saturday (-1):** The whole day in Hakodate. I will sleep there. I plan to visit the Morning Market, Goryokaku Park, and the observatory. I think a day is enough.
* **Sunday (1):** I will take the ferry to Aomori, which takes around four hours. Aomori is not a city that I care a lot about (the only thing I find interesting is the Nebuta Museum), and the hostels do not look that great. So this already raises some questions: Should I spend more time in Hakodate and arrive here by night just to sleep? Should I ignore the city and push further south?
* **Monday (2):** Train to Morioka and visit the city. Of course, I want to visit the Castle there, as well as other attractions, but there is a problem: I actually think this area’s beauty remains mostly in its countryside. Should I avoid Morioka and go somewhere more rural? Hostels there do not look that great either.
* **Tuesday (3):** Buffer day in Morioka. The idea is to have another day in the city to do the laundry, chill a little bit, eat a decent lot of wanko soba and, in general, rest. Location depends mostly on the previous day’s choice, so… is Morioka a good city to rest and recover? Of course, buffer days are by nature flexible, so maybe it changes once there, but I prefer to have a flexible plan than no plan at all.
* **Wednesday (4):** An important day because my JR East Tohoku Pass starts. As I want to see the countryside / more rural areas, I think I could do a day trip to Hanami or Hiraizumi (+ Geibikei Gorge). One option is to sleep at Hiraizumi, as I will continue the trip south, but I think it is better to go back to Morioka so I do not have to carry the backpack around. What do you think? Is the traditional ryokan experience worth the price?
* **Thursday (5):** Push down to Sendai, which I plan to use as a base for the next days. There is nothing I particularly fancy there (Castle, Shrines, etc…), but I think it is a good base to day trip from. Not happy with the hostels around either though. Any recommendation?
* **Friday and Saturday (6-7):** Day trips from Sendai to Yamadera and Matsushima. Great places, I think they are more worth than the city itself.
* **Sunday (+1):** The last day of JR Pass. I want to push down to Fukushima, spend the day there, and then push to Tokyo, where I will settle for at least a week. Not part of the original question, but there it is.

So, my main questions:

* Am I being excessively urban? Should I focus more on rural areas? I would like to visit some small towns in Japan, and I think this area would be great for that.
* Should I skip Aomori? If I do so, do I extend Hakodate or Morioka? If I stay, any good hostel you recommend?
* Is Morioka a good first base in Northern Honshu? An alternative is to take the Akita route or simply staying in a town instead of a big city. Any stays you recommend within the city (or alternatives in other places)?
* Is Sendai a good second base? Recommendations for hostels? As above, I would like to stay in a place where I can interact with other solo travelers so it doesn’t get lonely.
* What do you think of the day trips? Worth it? Would you change any of them? Of course, I am trying to use the JR Pass as much as possible, so it is going to be intense for a while.
* Last stop, Fukushima… Worth to visit it in just one day? I sincerely just know the city for the incident, as anyone else, but I do not know how interesting it is outside of the nuclear thing.

And that is it. This is an area I do not know a lot about, so please be patient. Thank you very much!