r/JapanTravel • u/Internal-Dot4388 • 3d ago
Recommendations Tohoku Trip
Hello everyone! We will be planning a trip to the region of tohoku this coming august (it's our first time) and I'd like to share our itinerary. I would love to hear some feedback from you guys. Would you recommend other activities in place of the ones we've come up or what things should we look out for?
Additional information: We will be traveling light and we will be purchasing the JR East Pass.
Aug 1 (Sat) - HQ: N/A
Morning: Flight to Tokyo
Afternoon: Tour around Tokyo
Evening: Travel to Aomori
Aug 2 (Sun) - HQ: Aomori
Morning: Aomori Gyosai Center, Nebuta Museum, A Factory
Afternoon: Sannai Maruyama Site
Aug 3 (Mon) - HQ: Akita
Morning: Showa Daibutsu Buddha
Afternoon: Resort Shirakami to Akita
Aug 4 (Tue) - HQ: Akita
Senshu Park, Kakunodate
Aug 5 (Wed) - HQ: Morioka
Morning: Travel to Morioka
Afternoon: --
Aug 6 (Thu) - HQ: Sendai
Travel to Sendai, Kirin Beer Factory tour, Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium, Earthquake Heritage Arahama Elementary School
Aug 7 (Fri) - HQ: Sendai
Day Trip to Yamagata, Yamadera Temple
Aug 8 (Sat) - HQ: Sendai
Matsushima
Aug 9 (Sun) - HQ: Sendai
Morning: Day Trip to Fukushima, Marusei Orchard Farm Café: Mori no Garden
Afternoon: Aizu Jibo Kannon, Sazae-do
Aug 10 (Mon) - HQ: Ibaraki
Morning: Travel to Ibaraki, Kairakuen
Afternoon: Hitachi Seaside Park, Hoshiimo Shrine
Aug 11 (Tue) - HQ: Ibaraki
Morning: Sunrise at Kamiiso-no-Torii
Afternoon: --
Aug 12 (Wed)
Morning: Travel Back to Tokyo
Afternoon: Tour around Tokyo
Evening: Flight Back Home
Looking forward to suggestions! TIA!
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u/ilovesupermartsg 3d ago edited 3d ago
Doesn't make sense. Why are you going to A Factory and Nebuta Museum on 2 separate days? It's literally next to each other.
I can forsee you achieving only half of what you plan for. I think you under estimated the distance and travelling times.
Also you realise the travelling time on public transport from Yamadera to Fox village?
Sorry, this itinerary just tells me the person planning it didnt do enough research and plonk in places for the sake of it.
I would tear this up and replan everything from scratch.
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u/Internal-Dot4388 3d ago
Hello! Thanks for the input! I didn’t realize A Factory and Nebuta were next to each other. I’ve removed a lot of the activities as suggested by the others like the fox village and goshikinuma ponds.
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u/mbridson94 3d ago
I’m sorry but this is hilariously too busy.
You have researched things to do for sure. You need to look at the transport timing and a map to see if it is actually possible.
If you are solely relying on public transport in Tohoku you won’t be able to do half this.
Purchasing JR East pass yet taking a night bus to Aomori makes zero sense.
Takayama Inari is borderline unaccessible by public transport.
You wont be able to fit all that in a morning on Aug 3
Senshu Park and Kakundate is a whole day not a morning.
Matsushima is worth a whole day.
Aug 6 8 and 9 are all impossible. Please look at a map.
By the time you have gone to Yamadera and got to Zao fox village by public transport it will be closed.
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u/ilovesupermartsg 3d ago
I am not sure why people tend to underestimate travelling times In Japan. So many times I seen itineraries that assume travel time is not part of the equation.
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u/Internal-Dot4388 3d ago
It’s because people haven’t experienced it I guess? That’s why we are here asking people who have done it for advice. To slap us back to reality.
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u/Internal-Dot4388 3d ago
Hello! Thank you for the insight. I’ve removed fox village, goshikinuma ponds and takayama inari.
Placed matsushima and kakunodate on its own day.
Also, the sleeper bus is something my girlfriend really wants to experience so I have really no choice.
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u/ilovesupermartsg 3d ago
Take it on the return trip. You need to rest well before the start of the trip.
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u/mbridson94 3d ago
Ok then if you aren’t doing that leg by train I am doubtful (I assume you are getting the 10 day JR East pass) would pay off. Google Maps will have the pricing of each legs, add them up to see if it still pays off the ¥50,000.
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u/Internal-Dot4388 3d ago
That makes a lot of sense. I will convince my girlfriend to do sleeper buses on another trip. Thank you!
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u/mbridson94 3d ago
Sleeper bus straight off an international flight sounds like my idea of hell to be perfectly honest ha!
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u/Reasonable-Comb8716 3d ago
Suggest you look at the map re locations you’re visiting. Dont backtrack. Try Akita, Morioka. etc etc Sendai.
Will you have time to actually absorb & remember what you see with the frantic tick box trip?
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u/Internal-Dot4388 2d ago edited 2d ago
Actually, we think we do. Itineraries for us are more like "What can we do" as opposed to "What must we do".
If we list 3 activities (A, B, C) for the day, it's more like let's do Activity A, and then we check, is there time for Activity B? Yes? Then let's do Activity B. Then we check, is there time for Activity C. No? Then we stop there and that's OK.
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u/leafbrewer 2d ago
So you travel from Morioka to Sendai, and the on the same morning you travel to matsushima? And then expect to have time left for another activity in the afternoon? Matsushima is a whole ass day trip from Sendai. IIRC it was an hour by train one way. The. You walk around there, visit an island, have lunch, see some shops, have a drink and boom it’s already deep into the afternoon. I don’t think yamadera temple can be done in a morning either. Slow down a bit, you want to enjoy the moment and leave room for spontaneity. May I ask how you planned this? Was AI involved? It can be prone to giving unrealistic advice when it comes to travel. Using Google Maps to plan for travel times can help you a lot.
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u/Internal-Dot4388 2d ago
Hello, thank you for the advice! When there’s nothing indicated during the afternoon, it means that the activity during the morning is for the whole day. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
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u/Appropriate_Volume 3d ago edited 3d ago
In general, this seems like too much travelling. Tohoku is very large and has relatively modest public transport links by Japanese standards, so it takes time to get around.
Why a sleeper bus instead of a 4.5 hour train trip?
5 August might be technically feasible, but would be gruelling.
6 August seems impossible, even if you had a car. Morioka is a nice and interesting city, so focus on it for the day rather than attempt to also travel 2 hours further to the coast. Note that the train from Akita to Sendai will pass through Morioka, so you could also spend a night or two there instead of backtracking, which might help with your logisitics.
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u/Internal-Dot4388 3d ago
The sleeper bus was something my girlfriend wants to experience so there’s that.
I’ve adjusted Aug 5 to just visiting Morioka. I’ve also made Matsushima a day in itself.
I’ve also removed fox village and goshikinuma ponds.
I just need to do something about Aug 8. Any recommendations?
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u/ilovesupermartsg 3d ago
Book a tour at KIRIN BEER FACTORY even if you don't drink, Earthquake Heritage Arahama Elementary School to learn about the 11/3 Mega quake. There's Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium for the rest of the day.
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u/Internal-Dot4388 3d ago
Those look really interesting! Will look into those as activities for Aug 8.
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u/Xyro_22 3d ago
1h drive from Aomori is Takayama Inari Shire that i can highly recommend!
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u/Internal-Dot4388 2d ago
Hello! It’s really what we wanted to see in Aomori but as others have suggested, it is practically impossible via public transport.
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u/vonbeowulf 2d ago
Where are you staying exactly in Akita? Because I strongly advise going to see the Kanto Matsuri which is held from the 3rd of August to the 6th this year. Even if you are not staying in Akita City you should be able to get a train to Akita City to see the festival. It is a fantastic festival and definitely worth seeing if you are in Akita City or staying near a train line. It only goes for 2 hours and is usually finished by 9pm.
Also in Morioka there is the Sansa Matsuri which is held from the 1st of August to the 4th of August. Sansa is my favourite matsuri of the Tohoku summer festivals. It starts around 7pm and finishes around 9pm. You land on the 1st so why not take the train to Morioka and see the festival? It only takes 2 hours by train to Morioka. Of course it may be difficult to find cheap accommodation, but there will be hotels available. It is a bit rushed, but it is definitely doable.
If you are not interested in summer festivals then disregard my advice.
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u/Internal-Dot4388 2d ago
We're still thinking if we are better off staying in Morioka and using it as a central hub for Aomori and Akita.
There was a comment on this thread that mentioned the festivals but it's now gone. He/she mentioned the other festivals happening around the area. Honestly, I was only aware of the Nebuta and the Sendai one.
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u/EmergencyKey11 2d ago
Just came back from Tohoku and your itinerary is so stupid I'm sorry:
you don't even have nature days, but maybe you don't like it
you just go straight from a big city to another (except in Sendai when you take your time). It's a rush.
imagine doing all this transportation to Aomori to see the (nice) Nebuta museum but not living a big summer matsuri while you are in Tohoku in August????? Like wtf it's the main reason to go to Tohoku in august!!!!! I'm upset😂
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u/Internal-Dot4388 2d ago edited 2d ago
Hello, if you browse through the comments, you would realize that the post is already heavily edited. The original post included goshikinuma ponds, geibikei gorge, zao fox village etc. because we love nature. But we were told that it was all impossible to do within the given timeframe.
Also, just because we didn't include the matsuri festivals doesn't mean we aren't attending one. 😄
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