Aomori

Right at the top of the main island of Honshu is Aomori, famous for apples, rough coastlines, and the final stop on the bullet train (until it wasn’t).
When Japan
Tweet

The Good	The Not-So Good
Experience rural Japan	Difficult to get around
Less crowds and cheap	By-passed and forgotten

Map showing Aomori relative to places you probably know (it’s far away)

When the Japanese think of Aomori, the most northern prefecture before you hit the snowy island of Hokkaido, the things that come to mind are: –

Apples – Due to the harsh winters rice cultivation was difficult
Nebuta Festival – Famous summer festival in Aomori City.
Tsugaru Coastline (the song probably)
Towada Lake (this is in Akita, isn’t it?)
Fear Mountain – Buddhist hell on an axe shaped peninsula

Apples, and the song by Ishikawa Sayuri about the Winter View of Tsugaru Strait (title doesn’t quite sound as good in English) are what most Japanese think about when the subject of Aomori comes up. The song is known to almost all Japan, young and old, mainly because Ishikawa has sung it every other year for the last 12 years on the Japanese traditional (think “the Queen’s speech” in the UK, or the “State of the Union” in the USA) end of year music program Kōhaku Uta Gassen, the partnering “tock” to this “tick” being her other major hit, Amagi-goe (apparently she isn’t that happy at being so pigeon holed to only a couple of hits).

It is an amazing song. Regardless, Aomori is known for its harsh winters, cool summers, and for being bypassed on the way to Hokkaido after a rail tunnel was built between the two islands making the regular ferries redundant.

Access to and around Aomori

Aomori is both a prefecture and a city. Access to the city is straightforward from Tokyo by the Bullet Train and takes just under 4 hours. Moving around the prefecture is a bit more tricky due to the limited number of lines and also the limited number of trains on said lines (once every 1 to 2 hours is normal). A hire car is recommended, especially if you want to visit Iwaki Mountain, although that option isn’t good for everyone.

Things to do in Aomori Prefecture

The most famous places are listed below and are all fairly (for a Japanese rural area that means a “still quite a challenge”) easily accessible from Aomori City itself or nearby(ish) Hirosaki City. Most of the prefecture is pretty inaccessible and unless you are majorly into hiking during the summer and fall months, probably not worth a visit on your first trip to Japan. If you want to get away from it all, then Aomori has plenty of secluded hot springs, with a visit during the winter months highly recommended.