Tohoku
Discover Tohoku
Tohoku (東北 Tōhoku, literally "East-North") is the northeastern region of Japan's Honshu island. 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. Tohoku also has many castles and samurai residences, making it a good place to take in some history. It also serves as a good backup plan for cherry blossom viewing, since the trees blossom a few weeks later here than they do in Tokyo/Kyoto. Formerly known as Michinoku (陸奥), literally "End of the Road", Tohoku was the wild north of Japan, thinly populated by wild, hairy Emishi tribes thought to be related to the Ainu of Hokkaido. After the Thirty-Eight Years' War (774–812), the Emishi gradually assimilated into Japanese society.
What to Experience in Tohoku
Taste of Tohoku...
Originally peasant food for long winters, Tohoku food tends to be strong flavoured and salty, and the area is famous for its pickles. In mountain regions you will certainly have a chance to sample sansai-ryōri (山菜料理), prepared from herbs and plants harvested from the forests and hillsides. Rice from Tohoku is also famous, with Miyagi's sasanishiki (ササニシキ) and Akita's Akita-komachi (あきたこまち) being the flagship varieties. Yonezawa in Yamagata is famed for beef, and beef tongue is a specialty of Sendai. Horsemeat is commonly eaten in mountain regions of Iwate. Dishes to look out for include: Tohoku is also an important fruit production area and produces most of Japan's apples (Aomori), pears (Yamagata), cherries (Yamagata) and peaches (Fukushima). Unlike the shōchū-swilling south, Tohoku is sake country and manufactures some fine rice wines.
Festivals & Events
Experience the vibrant festivals and cultural celebrations of Tohoku.
Tohoku has lots of famous festivals. The Nebuta Festival in Aomori, Kantō Festival in Akita, and Tanabata Festival in Sendai are together known as the Tohoku's Top Three Festivals. After the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011, the 6 prefectures of Tohoku decided to create a new festival that featured the largest summer events of each prefecture capital and named it the Tohoku Rokkonsai (東北六魂祭, "Six souls festival", changed the name to Tohoku Kizuna Matsuri 東北絆まつり in 2017). The top three festivals above were the representative festivals of Aomori, Akita, and Miyagi, and the Hanagasa Festival in Yamagata, Sansa Festival in Morioka, and Fukushima's Fukushima Waraji Festival were chosen to represent Yamagata, Iwate, and Fukushima respectively. The Tohoku Kizuna Matsuri is a parade featuring troupes of each prefecture, allowing spectators to enjoy a bit of each without having to travel to all of the prefectures. It is held in a different prefecture every year.
Essential Information
Getting There
Multiple OptionsThere 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 South Korea. The Tohoku Shinkansen connects Tokyo, Sendai, Morioka and Aomori, with spur lines to Akita and Yamagata. It will take 1 hour 40 minutes from Tokyo to Sendai via the all-reserved Komachi and Hayabusa service, which run nonstop after departing Omiya in Saitama prefecture. Trains run through to the Hokkaido Shinkansen to Hakodate. Ferry services connect ports in northern Tohoku to Hokkaido and Nagoya. Tohoku is large, mountainous and sparsely populated, and getting around in the boondocks can be time-consuming. In winter, heavy snowfall can disrupt all forms of travel (plane, train and automobile), so add some buffer into your plans....
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
Tohoku is large, mountainous and sparsely populated, and getting around in the boondocks can be time-consuming. In winter, heavy snowfall can disrupt all forms of travel (plane, train and automobile), so add some buffer into your plans. Tohoku's main train artery is the Tōhoku Shinkansen (東北新幹線) bullet train line on the east coast, connecting Tokyo to Aomori via Sendai, Fukushima, Morioka and Hachinohe, with spurs to Yamagata and Akita. An extension across the strait to Hakodate in Hokkaido is now open, but the rest of the route to Sapporo won't open until 2030. Outside the Shinkansen network, rural train services in Tohoku, known affectionately as donko, are slow and infrequent. It's not unusual to have waits of 2 or even 4 hours between trains, especially for services crossing the sparsely inhabited interior, and buses are often a faster option for intercity travel. The scenery along the twisty mountain routes can be stunning though.
Language & Talk
Information in English tends to be sparse in rural Tohoku, since foreign travellers are few and far between in these parts; most people are also apprehensive around foreigners even if you can speak Japanese. The Tohoku dialect (東北弁 Tōhoku-ben) is perceived as quite rural by Japanese, and it gets thicker the further north you go. It's known as zūzū-ben for its characteristic feature of turning all "s" sounds into "z" and blending "i" and "u" vowels. It can be difficult to comprehend at times even if you do understand Japanese, and the use of different vocabulary in some dialects makes them harder even for those from different parts of Tohoku. Most people are however well versed in Standard Japanese (hyōjungo), and English is also somewhat spoken by urban youth.
Safety Information
Nearby Destinations
Glimpses of Tohoku
Snowing Street
Rice ready for harvest in Yamagata, Japan located in the Tohoku region.
Aomori Bay Bridge, Aomori, Japan
a bunch of birds that are standing in the snow
a building that has a bunch of birds on top of it
November 2019 in Sagae. Shot with Pentax 6x7 and Kodak Portra 400
November 2019 in Sagae. Shot with Pentax 6x7 and Kodak Portra 400
Snowing Street
Rice ready for harvest in Yamagata, Japan located in the Tohoku region.
Aomori Bay Bridge, Aomori, Japan
a bunch of birds that are standing in the snow
a building that has a bunch of birds on top of it
November 2019 in Sagae. Shot with Pentax 6x7 and Kodak Portra 400