[Edit on the title… add Sendai and Matsushima]
Backround: Female solo traveler, not first time in Japan. I used the JR East-South Hokkaido pass because of the 6-day validity vs the cheaper 5-day JR East Tohoku Pass. Whole trip was 10 days.
Highlights:
– Kakunodate street just looks magical with the weeping blossoms against dark wood!
– Hirosaki Park is truly one of the best places to see cherry blossoms of different varieties and sceneries (sakura tunnel, with a castle background, with a mountain background, sakura lined moat, etc)
– Both times I biked- Hiraizumi and Hirosaki- were amazing. Awesome way to see lesser-known alleyways and saves time/effort.
– Matsushima. Didn’t expect to love this place as much but it was so unique to me. Combo of rock formations, pine trees, temples, red bridges, and the sea!
Day-by-day itinerary
D1. Fri, Apr 14. TOKYO-NARITA AIRPORT ARRIVAL.
– Supposed arrival is 12nn but actually landed around 12:30 (plane had to circle back due to strong winds), immigration took no more than 15min but luggage took longer than expected. I expected the worst based on peak season stories, but I was worried for nothing!
– Bought my Keisei Skyliner ticket from Klook and it was an easy voucher exchange, I just had to scan the QR code using their machine. Was able to catch the 1:30ish train to Ueno and arrived at the hostel around 3pm
– Hostel check-in wasn’t until 4pm (on booking it said 3pm tho) so I just decided to just stroll around Ueno and Ameyokocho. I also went to the JR East ticket office to get my JR Pass (also booked through Klook) and reserved my train for the next morning. There was also no line. I can’t compare to the Narita ticket office since I didn’t check it out.
– I chanced upon a rare, 2-person line at Gyukatsu Motomura so I decided to eat because I know I’ll never see the line that short lol. It was okay, I’ve had better gyukatsu with more flavorful beef. I enjoyed that they had a variety of side dishes that foreigners otherwise won’t try- basic pickled veggies, mentaiko, warabi mochi though.
– After checking in to my hostel at around 5pm, I went with my original plan to go to Nakameguro but everything was closed already by the time I got there at 6-ish. Just took in the nightime, more local Tokyo vibe and walked all the way to Daikanyama. Only Tsutaya was open lol.
– Also went to Shibuya and it was packed! Got some good time-lapses of the shibuya crossing from Mark City, went to the Miyashita Park to watch the skateboarders. Shibuya is still the same, organized chaos.
– Hostel: Smart Stay Shizuoka. Good location, near Keisei Ueno, metro and shinkansen station. Didn’t like that the shower area was in the basement rather than same floor as your capsule beds but they also had an onsen that I didn’t try.
D2. Sat, Apr 15. YAMAGATA-TENDO
– Took the first train from Ueno to Yamagata at around 6am
– It departed on time but somehow arrived late so I wasn’t able to make it for the local line to Yamadera
– I had more than an hour to spare so I dropped off my bags at my hotel then went to Yamagata Castle for a “quick look.” MISTAKE #1 was not finding out which entrance gate led to the main bridge so I ended up wandering more than I’d plnned and wasn’t able to make the next train. Just decided to skip Yamadera that day (I HAD to go in the morning because weather forecast said it was gonna rain in the afternoon but my original plan was Yamagata>Tendo>Yamadera sunset>Yamagata)
– Took the train to Tendo and walked to the Kutatsu River for the weeping blossoms leading me to MISTAKE #2 I walked to Tendo Park from here and did not know it was a hike up to the Ningen Shogi venue 🙃
– If I had to do it all over again I would arrive at Tendo station > take the bus to the top of Tendo Park (tourist bus only during the Ningen Shogi Festival) > go down to Tendo Park > walk to Kutatsu River > walk to station
– Tendo Park sakura have already been blown by the wind, sadly, so if not for Ningen Shogi (human chess) it would have been too much effort to just be disappointed lol.
– Ningen Shogi festival was quite an interesting local experience, I enjoyed seeing the Japanese crowd chuckle at the game commentary, which I of course did not understand.
– Went back to Yamagata to check in to APA hotel around 4:30pm, rested, and headed out to the izakaya area around 6pm
– Highly recommend Yumehana! Bar food was really flavorful (except the Yamagata dondonyaki which I felt too dough-y) and the servers were friendly. 1 spoke great English.
– Highlight: I am a solo traveler and was able to “chit-chat” with Japanese man via Google translate. After finishing his beer and edamame, he left and I did too after finishing my last drink. To my surprise the staff said the guy actually already paid for my drinks and meal 😱😱 I felt so bad cause I wasn’t able to thank him properly but it was such a memorable experience for me.
D3. Sun, Apr 16. YAMADERA-HIRAIZUMI-MORIOKA
– Original plan this day was to do Hiraizumi>Morioka bag drop>Kitakami night but because I wasn’t able to do Yamadera the day prior, I just skipped Kitakami because it was also past its peak
– MISTAKE # 3: Yamadera station has lockers but does not have an escalator. Bringing wheeled luggage is not recommended.
– It only took me about 30min going up and 20min going down and that was me having many photo stops.
– If you’re going on a Monday, expect many restaurants to be closed. Luckily I found a soba shop and was able to grab lunch before catching the train to Sendai.
– From Sendai I took the train to Ichinoseki then Hiraizumi. It was already 2pm when I arrived so I rented a bike to see both temples.
– Chosunji was massive and it involved a minor hike. The trees were so impressive to see, and so is the golden hall which cannot be photographed. I did not really expect the area to be SO big, I went around for 1.5hrs.
– I went to Motsuji but didn’t go around much as I was tired af. Maybe spent only 30min here but budget an hour if seeing the whole place. Hiraizumi blossoms were gone as well.
– Hiraizumi > Morioka via local train. I was lazy to go back to Ichinoseki for the shinkansen as there was minimal time difference anyway
– Checked in to Morioka New City hotel. Very close to the station. Would recommend for location but very basic and bed is not-so-comfortable.
(Continued in comments)
3 comments
D4. Mon, Apr 17. KAKUNODATE-AKITA-MORIOKA
– Took the earliest local train to Kakunodate at 5am instead of the Akita Shinkansen at 8am (only 20min travel time difference). Best decision ever as I reached Kakunodate at 7am had no people and only a handful of cars.
– Got to take my photos of the samurai street, walked along Hinokinai river and ate my konbini breakfast there. I stayed until 9ish am and on my way back to the station, tourists have already arrived. The samurai street is soooo beautiful in spring! Really dream and highly recommend going early.
– MISTAKE #4 on this trip: Did not reserve Akita Shinkansen seat which is a really small train so all seats must be reserved so I stood for 45min 🙃
– Upon arriving at Akita I went to the ticket office and reserved seats Akita>Kakunodate, Kakunodate>Morioka
– In Akita I checked out the Kubota castle ruins which was very peaceful. No tourists!
– It was drizzling and windy af so I mostly spent my time in a cafe until my train at 2 something.
– Went back to Kakunodate around 3pm to check out samuraI street with open shops and to wait for sunset/night lighting.
– Tbh the night illumination was not worth waiting for lol and it was really hard to find open restaurants here. The timings are weird (opens 11am-4pm or 6/8pm)
– Got back to Morioka 9pm, just bought takeout sushi and ate at my hotel.
– If I can to redo this day I would do Kakunodate (stay until 11 until shops open)>Akita>Tazawako sunset (but not sure of bus sched if this is possible)
D5. Tue, Apr 18. MORIOKA-AOMORI-HIROSAKI
– Woke up early to check out Morioka castle ruins since I was already there. Decided to hop on a bus cause my feet hurt already at this point 😂
– Shipped my luggage to Tokyo hotel via my hotel front desk (next day shipping available but I chose Apr 20).
– Got to the station 30+min before the train sched to get seat resevation Morioka>Shin-Aomori since I wasn’t able to the night before
– MISTAKE #5: The ticket person said I could just board the train and no seat reservation is required. I was weirded out because I knew Tohoku shinakansen was reserved seat only but I believed her only to find out I was correct… I had to stand for over an hour 🙃🙃🙃 Maybe she meant none more left for that specific train? If it was made more clear to me I’d have taken the later train
– I arrived at Aomori around 10am, with no breakfast because I wasn’t able to eat on the train due to standing all the way.
– Upon arriving I went to the ticket center to reserve my seats for Apr 20 Shin-Aomori>Sendai, Sendai>Tokyo.
– First thing I wanted to do in Aomori was eat sushi but all restaurants either open at 11:30 or 12. The Nokkedon center was also closed on Tuesday but I found another underground fish market with a sitting restaurant that opens at 11:30.
– Went to ASPAM first and did nothing there lol I didn’t want to pay for the observatory.
– Finally got to eat my sushi at the underground center. Chirashi don was 👌 Staff didn’t speak English but there were pictures.
– Checked out the Nebuta Warasse Museum. Made me want to check out the festival itself learning not only about the craftmanship of the float but how many people are involved in making the event happen. Also, the place was such a vibe, it felt like being inside Spirited Away (except that’s based off a different matsuri)
– Went to A-Factory for some apple things, had apple beer before heading to Hirosaki.
– Checked-in to Hostel Orando but went via taxi as it’s quite far from the station but near the park. Walls were thin and idk if it’s a bad batch of people but they just didn’t move too quietly. Luckily I was passed out that night from all the walking lol.
– Hirosaki Park is THE place to be for hanami. Different varieties, different looks (sakura tunnel, by the moat, with a castle background, with a mountain background, etc). So lucky that it was the perfect weather when I came and it was still full bloom in almost all areas of the park. I got to photograph the blossom pre-subset, sunset, and night.
– This was the most crowded place I’ve been to my whole trip but it wasn’t bad at all. I’d say it’s 40% japanese tourists, 20% foreign tourists, 25% locals and another 15% students around 5/6pm after class coming mostly to eat.
Thanks for the report!
Love Tohoku and hopefully will be back in the not too distant future.
Any reason you chose to use Skyliner back to Narita? I mean from Ginza there’s the direct bus/ train?
Great report! Many many thanks!
I loved the detailed day by day description and the listing of mistakes/ learnings. Wish I had seen it earlier.
One questions and a comment:
– on Google maps is there a way to see the exact train? I feel it always shows you nozomi for example, which you can’t take with jr pass of course, I didn’t manage to make it show other connections.
– I feel seat reservation, if it’s a mixed train with reserved and non reserved wagons – is really overrated. It seems just easier to take any train and be thus a bit more relaxed on the timings.
If it’s a train that’s only with reservation, I managed to get the conductor reserve me a seat while boarding.