After using the JR East Welcome Rail Pass 2020 for an autumn and winter trip last year, I was pleased to hear that they will release a new pass starting April 1, 2021, for foreign passport holders living in Japan (this pass was already available for foreign visitors on a tourist visa). One truth about living and traveling around Japan is that Japan is quite expensive, and traveling around is not cheap. And especially the transport costs can be very high, which is why during my first trips as a student in Japan, I used to take night buses as they were the most affordable option at the time. The JR passes can save you a lot of money when traveling around Japan, so I am super happy they are finally available for those living here. I wish they were known for Japanese people to travel more around their country, too.
On March 28, 2021, I attended an event organized by J3 SENPAI JAPAN and JR East promoting the new pass and the beautiful region of Tohoku (more info here). At the event, we went on a virtual train ride on the Toreiyu Tsubasa, which is a train providing a whole new experience; it has tatami seating, a bar counter stocked with sake from Yamagata, wine and juice, and even a footbath! What better way to enjoy the scenery than soaking in a footbath? With this JR East Pass, you can reserve seats for Toreiyu Tsubasa as well, but a separate reservation is required for the whole experience with food & drinks plus the footbath. We also had a mini-workshop where we made a glass lamp using Gassan Washi Paper from Yamagata Prefecture. This paper has a natural, soft texture, and it is easy to work with to create shapes and patterns without using scissors. I tried making a little sakura tree on my lamp. Since this event, I have been dreaming about a spring trip to Tohoku, with Aomori Prefecture on my list, as I missed out on last winter’s trip to Tohoku. The friendly staff from JR East at Japan Rail Cafe Tokyo kindly answered all my questions about the past and the Sakura forecasts for Tohoku this year. If it wasn’t for their advice, I would have planned a trip for Golden Week and would have been too late for any Sakura there, so I am super happy I got the chance to attend this event and ask all I needed to know.
Unfortunately, Tohoku is a very underrated part of Japan, but it is like a hidden gem, in my opinion. The more I travel there, the more I wish to return. Why do I love Tohoku so much? Most places, even touristy places, are not as crowded as those in Tokyo and Kyoto. You can still find old Japanese architecture very well preserved. People are so kind and always start talking with me! The food is super good for many, many more reasons. Is Tohoku already on your Japan travel list? If not, keep reading to see why you should add Tohoku in Spring (or any season) to your bucket list!
How to get there?
Order your Japan Rail Pass here!
As I said, I used the new (not so unique for foreign tourists) JR East Pass available for foreign residents as of April 1, 2021. For a price of ¥20,000/adult and ¥10,000/6-11-year-old children, this pass will allow you five days of unlimited travel on trains and Shinkansen in the area! When I first visited Tohoku in early 2020, I paid ¥23,000 for the roundtrip shinkansen tickets only to go to Yamagata and back, so you can imagine how good of a deal this is, even if you only go to one prefecture, for example. With the JR East Welcome Rail Pass 2020, which was ¥12,000 for three days of unlimited travel, I felt there was not enough time to visit as many places because getting around only by train can take quite some time in Tohoku. Read more about my trip using the previous pass here! Now that the key is available for five days, I think it is much more convenient.
You can purchase this pass by showing your passport at one of the designated sales points here, and it is advisable to have access with you throughout the trip (although no one asked me about it during my travels). Also, I recommend reserving seats when you get the pass by checking which Shinkansen you must take to reach your destinations (you can use Google Maps or Ekitan to check out train schedules). Most of the Shinkansen in Tohoku require a seat reservation, but you can also reserve just before a trip or so (even the pass can be bought one day in advance or on the day, too, if you don’t plan to leave early). Riding so many different types of Shinkansen is one fun part of this pass! On this trip, I rode the red Akita Shinkansen and the fastest Shinkansen at 320km/h, the Hayabusa!
Here is what my plan for this trip looked like! (I could only stay for four days; although the pass can be used for 5, I still think it was worth it.)
Day 1 Tokyo Station → Kakunodate Station
Day 2 Kakunodate Station → Morioka Station → Shin-Aomori Station → Aomori Station
Day 3 Aomori Station → Hirosaki Station
Day 4 Hirosaki Station → Shin-Aomori Station → Tokyo Station
The pass cannot be used for local buses or other train lines other than JR. From my experience, getting around Aomori City, Hirosaki City, or even other places around Tohoku can be difficult, so I also took a bus or taxi occasionally. Kakunodate was easily accessible from the train station just by walking. If you can drive, I recommend renting a car for easier access to places around (everyone goes in this part of Japan; I was probably the only one walking in Aomori, haha).
Accommodation
I tried to maintain a low budget on this trip, so there were no ryokan or fancy hotels, but I managed to find a few good accommodation options that were not expensive but offered good quality. I use Booking.com, ikyu.com (in Japanese), and Rakuten Travel to reserve accommodation in Japan. I recommend looking on all these sites for the best deals and most excellent options. Recently, I have preferred ikyu and Rakuten Travel because they have many traditional Japanese types of accommodation and good deals + coupons. Still, for simple stays and business hotels, Booking is also a good option.
¥14,440/night
This was the price I paid, considering it was high season for Sakura, and it was one of the only options to stay in Kakunodate, close to the old samurai residences. I liked the city center’s proximity, the Hinokinai River, a popular Sakura spot in Kakunodate, and the many restaurants and souvenir shops. The room was small but clean and with all the necessary amenities. Machiya (町家) in Japanese is a traditional wooden townhouse. They are popular in Kyoto, where many people still live in machiya, but some have been transformed into hotels, restaurants, or cafes. Since Kakunodate is known as the “Little Kyoto of Tohoku,” the town also has a Machiya area. The hotel is located in that area, preserving the traditional details of a machiya. Although it is a modern business hotel, it reminds me of an old townhouse, Machiya. The hotel has no meal plans, but it can offer you breakfast at a nearby facility; I chose this option and could enjoy a traditional breakfast with specialties from Akita.
Nyuto Onsen and Tsuru no Yu Onsen Ryokan, where I stayed during my winter trip, are only a one-hour drive from Kakunodate. I highly recommend it if you can go by car! If not, and if you want accommodation in the city center like I did, choose Machiya Hotel Kakunodate!
¥6,798/night
In Aomori City, I was looking for something convenient close to the station, and this is how I found this hotel on Booking.com, located very close to Aomori Station. I chose this hotel mainly because it has a natural hot spring shared bath! And the price was super reasonable, too. It was the first time I found a nice business hotel with an onsen; I thought onsen was usually reserved for ryokans or maybe minshuku (pensions) but not for business hotels. I stayed at a hotel in Tottori before, where they had a sauna and a hot bath but not a natural hot spring. This hotel in Aomori has a great onsen, with many baths inside and one rotenburo (outside bath) plus a sauna. The onsen is Machinaka Onsen, a local onsen that hotel guests can use. So the baths can become quite busy if local people come too, especially on a Saturday. I didn’t enjoy it so much on Saturday night, but the following day, at 6 AM, I could have the whole place, so I also took some photos.
They also offer a buffet-style breakfast with plenty of choices; I enjoyed the apple slices and juice the most, considering that Aomori is famous for apples. I had many apples and apple products on this trip.
¥6,175/night (+ ¥2,000 because I used a coupon from ikyu)
The leading destination for this trip was Hirosaki, the castle, and the park for their Cherry Blossom Festival, taking place between April 23 – May 5 this year. Prices for accommodation in Hirosaki during the festival, especially during the weekend, went up, so although I first wanted to come here on Saturday, I couldn’t find anything affordable. But for Sunday, I found this hotel at a reasonable price (I got a coupon I could use from ikyu), and guess what? They also had onsen! I don’t know if it’s an Aomori thing, but another affordable business hotel with onsen, yay!
I think that after hostels, business hotels are the most affordable accommodation option in Japan. At Dormy Inn Hirosaki, the onsen is only for hotel guests; they have both an inside and outside bath (the outdoor bath had apples, too! A common thing to do in Aomori is bathe with apples!) and a sauna. I enjoyed my time at the onsen before sleep and early the following day. I feel energized whenever I go to an onsen, and I’m happy I could enjoy this without paying too much for spending the night there. They had many freebies for guests, such as ice cream after onsen, a Yakult drink in the morning, duck soba, and a drink for dinner. Yay for free stuff! The breakfast was also very delicious; the variety of it was luxurious; you could make your kaisen don with fish and seafood, they had traditional dishes from Akita (Kiritanpo) and Aomori (Rice cracker soup) and a great variety of sweets and drinks too (apple cake and apple juice were my favorites!).
Besides the great onsen, freebies, and delicious food, the room was beautiful and had a nice view over Hirosaki City. This hotel was my favorite for this trip, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Hirosaki. I will stay with Dormy Inn again, as I’ve heard they have other hotels with onsen across Japan, too.
What to see & do?
Visit the Kakunodate Samurai Residences
I had never heard of Kakunodate before seeing a poster of beautiful shidare-zakura (weeping cherry blossoms) against a traditional architectural background during my winter trip to Akita. I realized that I chose visually many places I visited; this time, it was from a poster. But then I also discovered the important cultural significance of this little town as here you can find some of the best-preserved examples of samurai architecture. Kakunodate was once an important castle town in Akita, along the Tama and Hinokinai Rivers banks. Six samurai residences are open to the public, with four accessible entrances (Odano Samurai House, Kawarada Samurai House, Iwahashi Samurai House, and Matsumoto Samurai House). However, the Aoyagi Samurai Manor Museum and Ishiguro House require an entrance fee. As for the Ishiguro House, family members still live there, so only part of it is open to the public. There was also a small tour of the Ishiguro House, and I learned that the Ishiguro family has lived here for over 200 years! Visitors can see how samurais used to live, admire samurai armor, and even hold samurai swords at Aoyagi Samurai Manor Museum.
Kakunodate is also known as the Little Kyoto of Tohoku; there is more to this than similar traditional architecture! Kakunodate is also well known for its gorgeous weeping cherry trees and is considered one of the best hanami spots in Tohoku. It is said that seedlings were brought to Kakunodate by a lady from the Kyoto Sanjonishi family as a wedding gift when she married into the second generation of the Satake Family of Akita. There are about 400 such trees in Kakunodate, many more than 300 years old. Of the 400, 162 have been designated natural treasures in Japan.
Seeing Kakunodate in spring with the weeping cherry blossoms in full bloom was a dream; they looked like forming pink waterfalls. But I bet this charming little town is lovely in summer, when everything is green, in autumn, with autumn colors, and in winter when it’s covered in snow. So, I recommend adding it to your Japan bucket list!
Hanami Picnic by Hinokinai River
The perfect spot to sit under the cherry blossom trees, listen to the beautiful sound of the river (or even the sound of shamisen if you are lucky like I was and someone will practice shamisen there!), relax, and enjoy a picnic! Hinokinai River is such a beautiful place to enjoy Hanami. The Sakura trees are enormous, and they form a beautiful tunnel. It is only a few minutes away from Kakunodate Samurai Residences. I spent a few hours there just relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere.
Usually, there will be a light-up event, but unfortunately, it was canceled this year.
Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival
Hirosaki Park is well known in Japan as one of the best spots for cherry blossom viewing. I was unaware of how beautiful it was until I finally decided to visit this year. I feel a bit sorry that I have ignored the Tohoku region for all these years and focused on the main places more. I hope you do not make the same mistake as me, and please add Hirosaki Park to your Japan bucket list. Why? The park is vast, and there are around 2,600 sakura trees of more than 50 varieties to be admired. Hirosaki Castle is also located inside the park, and it is the only remaining castle tower built during the Edo Period (1603 – 1868) in Tohoku. The sight of Hirosaki Castle surrounded by shidare-zakura (weeping cherry trees) is truly unique. When the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival takes place (usually at the end of April – early May), there will be a beautiful nighttime illumination of the trees. The gorgeous reflection on the moats will make for an incredible view. Another attraction in Hirosaki Park is the heart formed by the sakura tree’s branches. The first time I saw this image on Instagram, I thought it was Photoshopped, but I can confirm it is real! Just do not miss it; right after you enter the park, on the left, there is also a small wooden heart sign, making it easier to spot it.
And when the main type of sakura trees (the Somei-Yoshino) are approaching their end, there is one more spectacular view to enjoy in Hirosaki, that is Hana Ikada, flower rafts or flower carpets, when many fallen cherry blossom petals gather on the surface of the water, forming pink flower rafts. Photographers highly appreciate this phenomenon; many try to capture it as best as possible.
Nebuta Museum WA RASSE
Located in a unique building along Aomori’s waterfront and just a few minutes away from Aomori Station, Nebuta Museum WA RASSE is a museum dedicated to the Aomori Nebuta Festival, one of the largest summer festivals in Tohoku and in Japan, that takes place every year in August (canceled last year, but might take place in 2021). The Aomori Nebuta Festival has been nationally designated an Important Intangible Folk Culture Property. Its origins are unclear, but a popular theory is that it started as a ritual among farmers and fishers to drive away evil spirits and sleepiness brought by the summer heat. Even the word Nebuta is said to come from “Nemuri,” which means sleep. It is said that the festival started more than 300 years ago.
At this museum, you can see how the festival floats are made and admire the winning floats of the previous year. The floats are 9 meters in width, 7 meters in depth, and 5 meters in height, and weigh 4 tons, including the power generator. Making one costs around $50,000, including materials, labor, and the artist’s fee. It takes about a year to complete a float, and 22 floats join the parade every year. They are destroyed after the festival, and only four are chosen to be on display at the museum until the following year. They are often created based on Kabuki, Japanese/Chinese mythology, or even inspired by modern-day news.
Sannai Maruyama Site
Probably the place I wanted to see most in Aomori City, The Sannai Maruyama Site is an archeological site, the largest and one of Japan’s most complete and best-preserved Jomon Period (13000-300 BC) villages. Visitors can enter the reconstructions and understand at least how life used to look back then. I remembered our first lessons in Japanese History from my university classes while visiting this place.
The ruins of the settlement were discovered in 1992, and excavation led to the discovery of storage pits, mounds, burial pits, jars, numerous pieces of pottery and stone implements, precious wooden objects, objects made of bone, and antlers. The findings show how communities used to be organized, the architecture of the time, and the organizational behaviors of people. Given its historical importance, the Sannai Maruyama Site was designated as a Special National Historical Site of Japan in 2000. A few years ago, I received a postcard of the reconstructed six-pillar structure, and I wanted to see it, but unfortunately, it was undergoing some renovation, so it could not be seen… I could see a photo of it on the ticket, though.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and for more videos, check my Instagram story highlights, Tohoku Spring.
Let me know if you wish to visit Tohoku as well, and please tag me if you visited any of the above locations!
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Happy travels!
Even post boxes in Aomori were apple-themed!
