Things to Do in Tohoku, Japan
The rugged, uncrowded northeast: samurai towns, festivals, mountain onsen and deep autumn colour.
91 destinations across 6 prefectures
Festivals in Tohoku
Namahage Sedo Festival
12 to 14 February 2027
Akita · Fire festival
Photo: Rarisan / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Yokote Kamakura Snow Festival
15 to 16 February 2027
Akita · Snow and ice festival
Hirosaki Sakura Matsuri
16 April 2027 to 5 May 2027
Aomori · Festival
© Rosino / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Hirosaki Neputa Matsuri
1 to 7 August 2027
Aomori · Lantern festival
Aomori Nebuta Matsuri
2 to 7 August 2027
Aomori · Lantern festival
© 秋田市 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Akita Kanto Matsuri
3 to 6 August 2027
Akita · Lantern festival
Yamagata Hanagasa Matsuri
5 to 7 August 2027
Yamagata · Dance festival
© 掬茶 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sendai Tanabata Matsuri
6 to 8 August 2027
Miyagi · Lantern festival
© KANSEI / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Omagari Fireworks
28 August 2027
Akita · Fireworks festival
Suggested Itineraries
Places to Visit in Tohoku
Gassan
A Sacred Mountain with Summer Skiing and Alpine Meadows
One of the three sacred Dewa mountains, Gassan is unusual for offering summer skiing from April t...
Miharu Takizakura
A Thousand-Year-Old Weeping Cherry Tree
One of Japan's three great cherry trees, this magnificent weeping cherry is over 1,000 years old ...
Goshono Site
A Jomon Village With Earth-Roofed Pit Houses, Across a Covered Wooden Bridge in Ichinohe
The site of a Jomon village on a plateau above the Mabechi River in Ichinohe, northern Iwate, liv...
Korekawa Site
Lacquered Jomon Combs and the Gassho Dogu: Hachinohe's Korekawa Site and the Museum Beside It
A Jomon site in the southern hills of Hachinohe, Aomori, where a waterlogged ritual deposit prese...
Oyu Stone Circles
Two Late Jomon Rings of River Stones on a Terrace in Kazuno, Akita
Two rings of river stones built between about 2000 and 1500 BCE on a terrace above the Oyu River ...
Tashirojima
Ishinomaki's Cat Island, a Few Ferries a Day and Nothing to Buy
A small fishing island off Ishinomaki where cats wander the lanes and a tiny shrine honours one o...
Michi-no-Eki Asamushi Onsen
A fifth-floor hot spring bath above Mutsu Bay
The roadside station at Asamushi Onsen puts its public bath on the top floor, with glass looking ...
Sukayu Onsen
A 160-Mat Mixed Bath Where the Snow Once Reached 5.66 Meters
A single mountain inn at about 890 m in the Hakkoda range, known for the Hiba Sennin-buro, a pill...
Aoni Onsen
Aoni Onsen: The Lamp-Lit Inn at the Bottom of a Snowbound Valley
A single inn deep in the Aoni valley east of Kuroishi, lit at night by oil lamps instead of elect...
Michi-no-Eki Fureai Park Kita-no-Sato
Kitakata ramen and a hot bath on the road to Yonezawa
A station on Route 121 just north of Kitakata, where the restaurant makes its ramen with flour fr...
Tamagawa Onsen
A pH 1.2 Spring Pouring Out of the Ground Above Lake Tazawa
A hot-spring cure town 43 km up a mountain road from Tazawako Station, built around the Obuki sou...
Ryusendo Cave
Clear Blue Underground Lakes in a Limestone Cave Deep in the Iwate Hills
A limestone cave in Iwaizumi with about 700 meters open to visitors and three lit underground lak...
Michi-no-Eki Akita Port
A free 100-metre view from Akita's port tower
Port Tower Selion, 143 metres of glass at Tsuchizaki harbour, doubles as a roadside station. Ride...
Okama Crater Lake
Zao's Acid Crater Lake, a Few Minutes from a Summit Car Park
A round crater lake about 325 m across at 1,550 m in the Zao range, inside the Miyagi side of the...
Michi-no-Eki Sagae Cherry Land
Cherry everything on the Route 112 riverbank
A big riverside station in Sagae, the heart of Yamagata's cherry country, on the Route 112 road t...