Tohoku summer guide to trails and festivals
Last year , with the first signs of autumn, we headed to Honshu- the main island of Japan. It took us only a short time to fall in love with Japan .We loved the quite, gentle people in the streets and the respect towards the public space. We enjoyed the food, the temples, the attention given to small details.
A few month ago we decided to return to Japan in order to see two different areas – Hokkaido and Tohoku – a mixture of nature and culture. Few months ahead of the trip we read a lot and were searching after the best Tohoku summer guide to trails and festivals.
This time we planed to travel in July.
Nine days in Hokkaido and eight days in Tohoku were not much but we couldn’t afford to take a longer vacation than that. There are many possible ways to travel on vacation. Since we love to be independent we prefer to go for the self drive option . That requires a thorough preparatory planning but we found that driving in Tohoku is a pretty stress-free affair.
Tohoku Itinerary
The Tohoku Region is in the north of Japan and consists of six prefectures. We decided to visit three of them- Aomori, Akita and Yamagate. Our tour plan gave place to hiking during the days and festivals during the nights. It was a great combination and we felt that it made our trip perfect. Here it is:
Day 1: Aomori
Visiting the display of the Floats of Nebuta Matsuri pestival
Day 2: Lake Towada
Towada lake- day trip. Hike along the Oirase stream from Shimai-no-taki fall to Makado-bashi.
Aomori Nebuta Matsuri pestival
Day 3: Hirosaki and Akakuradake
Climbing mt. Akakura
Hirosaki Neputa pestival
Day 4: Midway- from Aomori to Akita
Oga – visit Goshado shrine
Day 5:Akita
Kanto Matsuri pestival
Day 5: Akita to Yamadera
Akita Museum of art
Day 6: Yamagata
Yamadera Risshaku-ji temple
Yamagate pestival
Day 7: Mount Zao (Miyagi) to Sendai
Okama – Crater Lake
