Winter in Japan for the non-skiing family

[ShelleyB]

Day 3 and we are heading off to Tohoku. First stop Morioka, which somehow made it onto the New York Times 52 places to go list in 2023. Apparently even residents were rather surprised. Anyway, more details to come.

Started the day by packing enough in our small wheeled bag for a few days. The rest we sent off using Yamato, which seasoned Japan travellers will know and love. ShelleyB-son and I are sharing the little wheeled bag and a large (but still less than 160cm linear dimensions) wheeled bag. As from now we are travelling via Shinkansen we’ll be sending the large bag on via the luggage service Yamato. For Ueno to Morioka for our bag the cost is 3060 yen. A bargain in order not to be lumbered with the thing navigating stairs and snow. Paperwork completed with the help of reception and we hope to see it tomorrow sometime. But are prepared for longer.

Breakfast was again lovely. Today’s soup was vegetable (tasty), more Hokkaido beef and I even had a spot of seafood lasagne. ShelleyB-son had more rice and seaweed, plus was given another of those panda concoctions as per yesterday. ShelleyB-son gives Mitsui Garden Hotel Ueno a high rating.

 

[ShelleyB]

After checkout headed to Ueno station to purchase ekiben for the trip as we would be travelling over lunch. Then onto the platforms to await the train. Which arrived exactly on time. The Ueno to Morioka journey is just over 500km and just over 2 hours with only 2 stops on the fastest journey.

We saw the first signs of snow once the Zao mountain range came into view. And about 20 mins after Sendai, the snow was everywhere. After disembarking at Morioka, we made our way to our hotel for this evening, the Daiwa Roynet Morioka Ekimae. Only about 2 mins walk from the station, which we were glad of with rather icy footpaths.





We’ll be 3 nights here, and I booked us a superior twin for an average of 20000 yen per night. The room is very comfortable, a corner room with great views over the river and a glimpse of Mt. Iwate.

Photos of the room and view:

 

[ShelleyB]

We only had time for a little sightseeing before sunset, so headed towards the castle ruins. Did not get much of a chance to see anything, but we’ll have more time another day.

 

[ShelleyB]

Friday is traditionally pizza night for the ShelleyB family. Quite a few places are still closed for the new year holidays, but we did find a cosy place called Trenta. Lovely bases to the pizzas and even ShelleyB-son enjoyed the Proscuitto and Genovese once he got over it being green.



My first impressions of Morioka are very favourable. The town seems fun and pleasant with a lively atmosphere. There are quite a few young adults around and I note there are a few local Universities, public and private. The place we ate dinner offered student discounts and there are quite a few cafes and bars. I look forward to exploring more.

 

[ShelleyB]

Day 4 and we are off to chase Samurai in Kakunodate.

Kakunodate is about 60km from Morioka and on the Akita shinkansen line. It has an extensive old town of samurai residences, some of which are open to the public, although many remain private. Our target today was the Aoyagi Samurai Manor Museum. This musuem contains extensive exhibits from the height of the samurai period in Japan. Most of these are from the Aoyagi family that previously owned the manor.

Upon arrival in Kakunodate we first visited the informative tourist office, collecting a useful map of the town. We then enjoyed a stroll through the town, with a light snow falling that continued most of the day. Phots from around town :

 

[ShelleyB]

The museum itself has a token entry fee (500 yen for adults, 300 yen for 12-17 year olds) which includes all exhibits and some free experiences such as trying on samurai helmets and holding katanas (swords) that are of course safely in a box. We both enjoyed the museum, particularly ShelleyB-son who knows a bit about this period.











We also enjoyed sweets and coffee (for me) in their cafe before visiting the river then walking back to the station. We were quite a bit earlier than the train I had reserved but managed to change our reserved seats to an earlier train. Only 2 seats were left on the earlier train, luckily in the same carriage, so we had to sit separately but ShelleyB-son was a champ about it.

 

[ShelleyB]

We returned to Morioka for dinner. Initially we had ramen in mind, but the place we had in mind was still closed for the holidays, opening again tomorrow. Therefore putting ramen off until tomorrow we decided upon an izakaya - Iwate Izakaya Joi- in iclose proximity to our hotel and that on the Japanese tablelog site received good reviews and indicated children were welcome. As it turned out the menu was much less extensive than appeared on tablelog. Although I am working on it, my Japanese is currently limited, but Google translate and patient and kind staff make anything possible. Ultimately we decided upon chicken hotpot with some fantastic sake for me and more ginger ale for ShelleyB-son.

The food was excellent and we really enjoyed the experience.








Edited to add that it’s the sort of place I would only take older kids and then probably only early in the evening. Suspect it may get raucous later at night.

 

[ShelleyB]

Today was fairly quiet day exploring Morioka. An option we briefly discussed was to visit Ryuusendo caves near the coast. There is a direct bus from Morioka but it takes over 2 hours and would have made for a long day.

First stop was Takamatsu Park, a little out from the centre of Morioka. Conveniently a bus went from very close to our hotel to right in front of the park. As the bus stop announcements are not always easy to hear, I find personally find it useful to have an app or map in Japanese to compare stop names to the electronic board on the bus. Unlike train stations the information boards are often only in Japanese.

Takamatsu Park has at its centre Takamatsu Lake. At this time of year the lake is partially frozen and is home to swans and other birds over the winter. Without being too crowded, the park was busy with joggers (on the snow!), families and dog walkers. The lake is a little over a km around and we had a pleasant time watching birds and fish and chatting (sort of) with other people.

 

[ShelleyB]

At the end of our walk we stopped for drinks and sweet snacks (for ShelleyB-son) at a lovely cafe called Cafe Cam on..





Then back on the bus to the Morioka castle ruin park for a more extensive look than last time.

 

[ShelleyB]

From there we planned to visit Nanshoso, a Japanese garden and meiji era residence. However, it was difficult to work out from online information of it was open, and as it turned out, it was closed. Ah well, perhaps we’ll be up this way again sometime.

Dinner was our long awaited ramen at Menyo Dansho. We were both quite hungry so were the first customers when it opened at 6. The usual vending machine and ticket arrangement common in ramen places. Shio ramen for ShelleyB-son, shoyu for me. Yum.

 

[ShelleyB]

Day 6 already. Where does the time go? We’re off to Hirosaki today. Only a brief stop of 2 nights (one full day) to view illuminations of the castle moat, enjoy one of the remaining original castles in Japan, and a lot of apple pie. More on all of that later.

First we had to get to Hirosaki. We took the quick option of Shinkansen to Shin-Aomori then the Ou line to Hirosaki. A potentially more interesting option would have been the Resort Shirakami special train along the west coast between Akita and Hirosaki (included on JR pass) but it does not run every day, particularly in winter, and we just could not make the timing work. In any case, our journey was quick and easy, with no shortage of snow. Already lots on the ground and 10-12cm forecast in next 24 hours.

 

[ShelleyB]

We were staying at the Art Hotel Hirosaki City, which is right next to the train station. Handy for those snowy days. We were too early for check in, so put our little carry on roller bag in a locker at the station and went off in search of a snack. As an aside we will not see our big bag in Hirosaki at all. We are only here 2 nights so sent it to the next hotel. A cost this time of 2920 yen and the pleasure of not dragging a big bag around.

Back to the matter at hand - a short walk from our hotel was a surprisingly large Tsutaya bookshop with a Starbucks which did well for a quick snack and time wasting.

Then back to check in. Room on 10th floor was very servicable. Nothing like as nice as we had in Morioka, but large and with a decent view. Bathroom is odd - feels like a pod dropped into the room, with a window covered with a blind that could be opened that would allow a view into the bathroom from the main room. Weird. But at only 16000 yen per night can’t really complain.


The room and the view

 

[ShelleyB]

As sunset approached we headed up towards the castle grounds. In cherry blossom season Hirosaki is thronged with people for sakura viewing, as there are extensive trees all around the castle grounds, including the outer moat. In winter obviously they are bare of any leaves, but covered in snow. These snow covered trees are lit at night in pink to be reminscent of their blooming period. With the ice covered moat it really does create a fabulous sight.







We had made our way to the castle via bus. The walk is only 30 mins or a bit less but with snow falling fairly heavily we felt bus was better. We of course tried to go home the same way but despite the timetable assuring us a bus was due, 20 mins later still no bus. A local waiting had given up 5 mins before so we felt it was time to suck it up and walk. Which we did, after which we did not feel like hunting about for somewhere to eat. Therefore we caved and settle for the hotel all you can eat buffet, which was a bit uneven in quality but filled a gap and wasn’t too pricey at 3300 for me, 1650 for ShelleyB-son. Sushi was ok, and even some crab was included. Highlight for me were the various apple dishes, including an apple curry and a really very good apple sorbet. There’ll be more on the apples tomorrow, but suffice to say Aomori, the region which includes Hirosaki, is the apple capital of Japan.





Tomorrow we will see the castle in daylight and go apple pie hunting.

 

[Quickstatus]

The usual vending machine and ticket arrangement common in ramen places

Is it one of those small places where you should tidy up your table and hand back the empty bowls on the counter bar?

 

[ShelleyB]

Is it one of those small places where you should tidy up your table and hand back the empty bowls on the counter bar?

Not that we were aware of. Small but been in smaller. And 2 staff on duty were not yet super busy at openng time.

 

[ShelleyB]

Day 7 and today was all about the apples. Buffet breakfast in hotel was extensive (no photos, sorry) although I recognised some of the dishes from the night before. Naturally the fresh fruit included apple, which was very good. One special item was scallop with scrambled egg served in a half shell. Was quite good.

Afterwards headed back to the castle park on the bus. Bus stops had notices indicating buses may be late due to heavy snow. The snow was indeed heavy and the bus was a little late. As an aside all the buses we have ridden so far take IC cards such as Suica. This seems more common than a few years ago and does make everything much easier (for me anyway).

Headed into the park which was quite quiet. A few people about but not many. Paths a bit icy and despite taking care I am sorry to say landed on backside once. I did feel a bit silly but will add saw at least 2 park workers do the same thing in separate incidents. Is it bad that this made me feel better that even those used to the terrain can’t always keep their feet? I will add they also got back up no damage done. Anyway, park was beautiful and despite the time of year the cafe was still open. It was here that we had our first apple pie.

A word on apples and pies. Aomori prefecture produces over half of Japan’s apples. The best of these apples are the product of a ridiculous amount of care - for example turning apples to face the sun to ensure even colouring. And apple products are everywhere up here, but the focus in Hirosaki is apple pies. There are litterally dozens of cafes that make their own particular specialty apple pie. There’s even a map (online or the tourist office) of the cafes, of the apple pie they make, and an indication of the type of apple used and giving a level of sweetness/tartness. Anyway, we had the first apple pie of the day at the cafe in the castle park. Well I should say 2 pies really as the plate came with 2 types. Both good, although possibly let down a bit by the pastry.

Then onto the castle which is undergoing extensive renovations. It is never open for interior tours in winter anyway, but I note that after closing at the end of last season (Nov 25) it is not expected to reopen for many years. Something to be aware of for anyone coming to visit and keen to visit the interior. As it was, the exterior could be viewed fairly easily as a platform had been built to allow viewing over the construction fencing.

It really is a beautiful castle.

 

[ShelleyB]

Then it was back to the bus and onto the Hirosaki City Apple Park. In picking season you can pick your own apples, and picnic in the grounds, but obviously not at this time of year. Consistent with the intensive way apples are grown here, there was quite a bit of work going on in the apple groves. Without being any sort of expert, this seemed to mainly be ensuring not too much snow gathered on the trees or even around the base.

On site there is also a brewery, a cafe and a shop. We ate lunch at the cafe. ShelleyB-son had a small apple udon which came as a set with apple juice and apple jelly. I had a very tasty apple curry as well as trying a local cider (of course). Cider good, and felt significantly lighter than I would usually encounter. Then of course was more apple pie. Yum.

 

[ShelleyB]

Then back into town for one final pie for ShelleyB-son (who has hollow legs) and a food coma in the hotel room.


For dinner tried a well-regarded local hamburger place, relocated into new premises. The premises of Pepe Kitchen were indeed shiny and new and clearly popular with locals. I was lucky to get some photos before the place got too busy. The burgers were excellent. A “hot” salsa for me (not really very hot, but may be to the Japanese palate) and a bacon cheese burger for ShelleyB-son he declared to the best burger he ever ate.