Aomori

Tohoku, Japan · City, Snow

The giant Nebuta floats parade on the first nights of August, but the floats themselves stay on display all year at the Wa Rasse museum, so the city does not hang on that one week. At Furukawa market you build your seafood rice bowl stall by stall; the art museum holds Yoshitomo Nara's giant Aomori-ken; and up the same road that climbs to Hakkoda sits Sukayu, with its bath for a thousand people.

The essentials

Getting there

Train — Tohoku Shinkansen to the northern tip of Honshu

Frequently asked questions about Aomori

What to do in Aomori: 22 activities

• Aomori Nebuta Festival 3 h must-see only 2-7 Aug

  A nighttime parade of enormous paper lanterns and dancers held from August 2 to 7.

• Aomori Museum of Art 2 h must-see

  A museum known for Yoshitomo Nara's giant sculpture Aomori-ken and works by Marc Chagall.

• Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse 1.5 h must-see

  Giant lanterns from the Nebuta Festival on display year-round.

• Furukawa Fish Market (Nokkedon) 1.5 h

  A market where you build your own bowl of rice topped with fresh seafood chosen stall by stall — the famous nokkedon.

• Local Apple and Cider Tasting 1 h

  Aomori produces a large share of Japan's apples.

• Mount Hakkoda Ropeway 2.5 h

  A scenic ropeway up a volcanic mountain range, spectacular in autumn and home to 'snow monsters' in winter.

• Sukayu Onsen and its thousand-person bath 2.5 h

  A historic onsen more than 300 years old on the same road that climbs to Hakkoda, famous for its 'Sennin-buro' or thousand-person bath, designated a National Health Resort Onsen.

• A-Factory, cider works and shop 1 h

  A complex next to the station with a small apple cider works and shops selling local products, proper retail beyond the seafood markets.

• Aoimori snow park (tubing and snowmobiles) 2 h

  A family snow area inside the Aomori Sports Park, with tubing, 'snow rafting' and snowmobiles, within the city itself.

• Aomori Wat's basketball game 2.5 h booking

  A professional B.League basketball team playing at the Aoimori Arena, with a good atmosphere in the stands and affordable tickets.

• Asamushi Aquarium 1.5 h

  An aquarium open since 1924 next to the Asamushi hot-spring town, with Japanese giant salamanders, dolphins and an underwater tunnel.

• Asamushi Onsen hot-spring town 2 h

  A coastal hot-spring town within Aomori city itself, with waters known since the 12th century and visited even by the Meiji Emperor in 1876.

• ASPAM and Aoiumi Park 1.5 h

  A triangular building beside the port with a local produce shop, a 3D film about the Nebuta festival and demonstrations of kogin-zashi (traditional embroidery), a panoramic observation deck on the 13th floor and the Aoiumi Park promenade right alongside.

• Auga Market 1 h

  An underground market for fresh produce and seafood in the heart of Aomori city.

• Backcountry skiing and snowboarding at Hakkoda 5 h booking

  Internationally recognised ungroomed powder terrain, reached by ropeway and guided by local backcountry operators.

• Hakkoda traverse hike 5 h

  A route of about 11.6 km from the top of the ropeway down to Sukayu Onsen, crossing mountain wetlands and alpine flora, very different from the simple scenic ride up by ropeway.

• Hakkodamaru memorial ship 1 h

  A former rail ferry that crossed the Tsugaru Strait to Hakodate before the Seikan Tunnel (1988), moored in the port as a museum: you walk the bridge, the cabins and the wagon deck where the trains were loaded.

• Munakata Shiko Museum 1.5 h

  A museum devoted to the Aomori-born printmaker Shiko Munakata, a Person of Cultural Merit, in a traditional 'azekura' style building; it complements the Aomori Museum of Art with a local figure less known outside Japan.

• Sannai-Maruyama Archaeological Site 1.5 h

  One of the largest Jomon-period settlements discovered in Japan.

• Snow lantern festival (Yuki Akari) 1.5 h only early February

  A late-January festival next to the Wa Rasse museum with hundreds of small lit snow lanterns, a quiet winter counterpoint to the boisterous summer Nebuta.

• Teramachi temples 1 h

  A district of Buddhist temples next to the centre (Joko-ji, Shogaku-ji, Renshin-ji and Renge-ji), with traditional architecture and a quiet atmosphere, with almost no foreign tourism.

• Hirota Shrine 0.75 h

  A small Shinto shrine whose red facade stands out strikingly against the snow, with a contemplative garden and an unusual 'grave for kitchen knives' where chefs retire their tools.

What only happens on specific dates

• Snow lantern festival (Yuki Akari) early February
• Aomori Nebuta Festival 2-7 Aug

Ready-made routes through Aomori

Chains well with

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