Travel Japan – Visit Tohoku
Tōhoku (東北, literally “East-North”) is the northeastern region of Japan’s Honshu island.
Generalities
Traditionally a poor rural backwater with a harsh climate, today’s Tohoku offers the traveller some of the best scenery in Japan. In winter, the Snow Country (Yukiguni) of the western Japan Sea coast racks up some of the highest snowfall figures in the world, which also means great skiing and lots of hot springs to warm up in.
Prefectures and Regions
- Akita
- Aomori
- Fukushima
- Iwate
- Miyagi
- Yamagata
Cities
- Aomori
- Hiraizumi — historical site with several large temples
- Hirosaki — the cultural capital of the North
- Morioka
- Sendai — capital of Miyagi and the largest city in Tohoku. It enjoys the epithet Mori no Miyako, “The Forest City”, due to its dense tree lined thoroughfares and forested public areas.
- Yamagata
Other destinations
- Dewa Sanzan — three mountains holy to the ascetic cult of Shugendo
- Lake Towada
- Kinkazan — small island with a shrine and hiking trails
- Matsushima — one of Japan’s Three Great Views
- Mount Bandai
- Naruko — famous for its hot springs
- Oirase River Valley
- Shimokita Peninsula — featuring the scenic Yagen Valley as well as Mount Osore, the mythical entrance to Hell
Talk
Information in English tends to sparse in rural Tohoku, since foreign travellers are few in these parts; the positive side to this is that people will go out of their way to help you.
The rural Tohoku accent, known as zūzū-ben for its characteristic feature of turning all “s” sounds into “z”, can be difficult to comprehend at times even if you do understand Japanese. Younger people are, however, universally versed in school-standard hyōjungo.
Getting there
By plane
There are no major airports in Tohoku and most travellers arrive via Tokyo. Sendai and Akita airports do field some international flights, mostly to China and Korea.
By train
The Tohoku Shinkansen connects Tokyo to Mito, Sendai, Morioka and Hachinohe, with spur lines to Akita and Yamagata. It will take 2 hours from Tokyo to Sendai. The line remains under construction and is inching towards Aomori, from where it will eventually tunnel under the sea to Hokkaido.
By ferry
Ferry services connect ports in northern Tohoku to Hokkaido.
Get around
Tohoku is large and mountainous and getting around in the boondocks can be time-consuming.
By train
Rural train services in Tohoku, known as donko, are slow and infrequent — it’s not unusual to have waits of 2 or even 4 hours between trains. The scenery along the twisty mountain routes can be stunning though.
See & Do
Most visitors come to Tohoku for hiking, history and hot springs, not necessarily in that order. Highlights include the temples of Hiraizumi, the holy mountains of Dewa Sanzan and the secluded hot springs of the Shimokita Peninsula.
Eat & Drink
Tohoku has not made very many contributions to the Japanese culinary scene, although (as always in Japan) even the smallest hamlet will boast something it claims to be famous for. But in mountain regions you will certainly have a chance to sample sansai-ryōri, prepared from herbs and plants harvested from the forests and hillsides.
Unlike the shōchū-swilling south, Tohoku is sake country and manufactures some fine rice wines.
(Source: Wikitravel)
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