Aomori– category –

Imagine standing before the reconstructed wooden pillars of a 5,500-year-old settlement, realizing you’re looking at something older than the Egyptian pyramids — and that you’re the only foreign tourist here. That’s the...

Picture a coastline where ancient black lava cliffs tumble into the Pacific, where natural lawn meadows roll right up to the cliff edge, and where a sacred island shrine is so densely packed with nesting seabirds that visitors literally ...

In western Aomori, every August, something remarkable happens: three giant figures — as tall as a seven-story building — slowly emerge from the doors of a museum and begin moving through the streets. These are the Tachineputa floats of G...

Most visitors to Aomori Prefecture head straight for the Nebuta Festival in Aomori City — and while that spectacle is undeniably incredible, they’re missing something equally remarkable just 40 minutes down the train line. Hirosaki...

Every spring, while the rest of the world rushes to Tokyo and Kyoto for cherry blossoms, a quieter, more spectacular miracle unfolds 300 miles to the north. In Tohoku — Japan’s northeastern region — the sakura season arrives two to...

Deep in the mountains where Aomori and Akita Prefectures meet, covering a vast sweep of ancient highland, lies one of the last great wild places in East Asia. Shirakami-Sanchi (白神山地) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that preserves the...

Imagine gliding along the rugged Sea of Japan coastline as dramatic cliffs plunge into sapphire-blue water, while ancient beech forests cling to mountains that have stood untouched for millennia — all from the comfort of a beautifully de...

What if we told you that one of Japan’s most exciting contemporary art destinations isn’t in Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto — but tucked away in a quiet regional city in Aomori Prefecture, surrounded by some of Tohoku’s most br...

At the very tip of the Shimokita Peninsula — Japan’s axe-shaped geographic landmark jutting dramatically into the Pacific — Cape Shiriyazaki stands as one of Tohoku’s most extraordinary and least-visited destinations. Here, w...

Walk into almost any supermarket anywhere in the world and you’ll likely find a Fuji apple — that crisp, sweet, reddish-purple variety that has conquered global fruit markets since its development in Japan in the 1930s. What far fe...