Tokyo to Tohoku 2026 (AKA how many honeymoons is too many?)

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 5 (Part 2):

After navigating some pretty windy and snowy roads we were on the hunt for an onsen, and Oyu Onsen was on our route. The town has a few public baths which didn't look too appealing so we thought we would try our luck with the large hotel in town, Hotel Kazuno, which looked to have some nice baths.

We arrived and I ran up to the desk to ask if public bathing was possible and the Japanese bell lady could not have been more helpful. We quickly paid for the onsen and towel rental and headed in to have them basically to ourselves. I'll attach a photo below from the website which was pretty accurate to the day we visited, albeit with so much snow around!



After a while a few locals rolled through for their arvo soak and chat so I took that as time to leave. We changed and explored the hotel a little. Turns out it is actually on a list of Japans top 100 Hotels/Ryokans. It was a stunning hotel which would be amazing to stay at however it's a bit far from most ski areas except Hanawa which is really only used for a lot of ski racing.




A particular cool feature for mine was the old school weather display next to reception. It felt very bubble era Japan.



After this it was time to head to Morioka, which was only about 90 mins away. It was a pretty uninteresting drive primarily on the Tohoku Epxressway, a road we spent a lot of time throughout the trip.

We arrived about 6:30pm and checked into Art Hotel Morioka. Unloading was a bit crazy as we had gear everywhere from the first day on snow but we eventually got settled and parked the car in the adjoining parking lot. The room was fairly recently renovated and quite comfortable with enough space for all of our stuff and a pretty good view too!





We unpacked a little and given the time were absolute starving for a feed so headed out from the hotel.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 5 (Part 3):

We headed out into the snowy Morioka night in search of food and drink. Art Hotel is a super conveniently located a short walk from Moriokas entertainment area and not all that far from the station and its precinct.



We headed in the direction of the entertainment area, the Odori area. While searching for food we came across and Irish cough TexMex styled bar so popped in for some Guiness and local craft beers.



The couple who ran the place were super lovely so we had a chat with them in our poor japanese with some help from google translate. Another place I would definitely recommend if in Morioka, especially if you're into craft beers as they carried a particularly impressive local selection.

After a couple of drinks we headed back out into the night in search of yakiniku.




We found a place called Yakiniku Kohaku which had private rooms and a pretty good selection of meats. This was a meal that satisfied a craving but certainly not the best Yakiniku we've had, not bad not great, just good.



After finishing the meal we headed back to the hotel via the mandatory 7/11 stop for dessert. It was still snowing at this stage so was shaping up to be another good day ahead!

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 6 (Part 1):
Morioka has an absolute smorgasboard of ski resorts to choose from so only choosing 3 for our days here was quite difficult. For our first day we eventually settled on Shizukuishi which was about 45 minutes from downtown Morioka and looked to have a good amount of terrain and fairly affordable lift tickets.

We were treated to a pretty beautiful morning and headed out around 9:30 toward the mountains.



We were greeted at Shizukuishi by the pretty sizable Prince Hotel at the base of the mountain. From what I understand Shizukuishi used to be Prince's flagship property however the ski resort is a bit of a shell of its former self. Apparently the hotel is still quite nice though.



We geared up and headed to the ski resort base to a bit of a strange set up. The initial lift up the mountain (which only goes about halfway) is a ropeway thet goes every 15 minutes. We just missed one when arrived so had to wait for the next one, then catch another chair from there to get to any sort of skiable terrain.

The resort was quite fun, with a bit of a steeper pitch than most Japanese resorts we're used to. A little bit of overnight snow plus a heap still untouched from the previous storm made it quite a fun day!



The sun and snow played tag all day with very differing levels of visibility at times. All in all though a really fun day and mountain we would re-visit. It is a shame that their gondola doesn't run anymore and the resort has shrunk pretty significantly, though it sounds like the old FIS downhill course which is now cat access only is worth the effort. I'll link a snowaction article I found which has a good overview of the place!

Shizukuishi Japan's Prince of Powder

Shizukuishi is a less well known Prince Hotels resort offering great powder, great value and few crowds in Iwate Prefecture with easy access from Morioka

snowaction.com.au

After a few hours on the hill we decided it was time for lunch so headed to the restaurant at the ropeway top station. The food was ok, but not great, as you can probably tell from the photo below.




After lunch we rode out to the base by the hotel. The ride out was almost all the way into the car park which was a fun novelty. The night before at Sundance (the quasi irish pub) the couple mentioned that Amihari Onsen Ski resort had a good public onsen so we planned to head there. In hindsight we probably should have used the one at Shizukuishi Prince Hotel. Anyway we made the short drive over to Amihari, got lost and ended up at the hotel there which does not have apublic onsen, then got redirected to the public bath house.

It was quite small and busy with a lot of locals, and would have been spectacular had the outdoor pools been open, but unfortunately they close for winter. Oh well, lesson learned and it was still a good soak to relieve the muscles!

After onsen we headed back into Morioka via Aeon Mall for some shopping. This felt kind of like Deja Vu as the layout was nearly identical to the one we had visited in Miyazaki last year. We got some goodies and ate a quick McD's as we were both still a little hungry after lunch.

After returning to the hotel and unpacking the days ski gear we wanted to explore the Morioka Station area so we headed over there. The station was bigger than expected for a city of 300 000 but is a major shinkansen hub with a couple of other local lines attached so it did make sense.

We found a small brewery called Baeren and had a few drinks before setting off in search of an izakaya for dinner.



We ended up back in the Odori area at a place called Fuku-Fuku-Ya. Huge menu and pretty solid food, plus, like almost everywhere out of Tokyo, super affordable.





After another big meal we wandered back via 7/11 for the standard dessert haul before calling it a night with intentions to get a up a little earlier the next day for an adventure into Akita to ride.

 

[LinaLee]

Looks like I was there around the same time you were in Aomori. That epic weekend of snow, lots of it on 6-10 February. Was a bit difficult to get around relying only on running Shinkansen's and local trains that were mostly cancelled or reduced serviced but still managed to visit Hirosaki, Towada, Oirase Gorge. Amazing scenery.

Did my skiing the week leading up to it at Zao Onsen. Nice, decent hotels and facilities, not over run by Australians yet and minimal queuing except the gondola to head up to the snow monsters area. But probably not a great resort for snow boarders and lots of flat terrain between chairlift runs. Even as a skier I found it a PITA. Prices were reasonable for somethings like ski hire and food but lift passes was a bit on the high side.

Loving your trip reports for the lest beaten path of skiing in Japan. Thanks.