City: Tohoku
Top Things to do in Tohoku
Top Hotels in Tohoku
6 Neighborhoods in Tohoku That You Shouldn't Miss
The Tōhoku region (東北地方, Tōhoku-chihō), Northeast region, or Northeast Japan consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (ken): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi and Yamagata.
Restaurants in Tohoku
1. Masuda Storehouses
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 44 reviews
2. Samurai District
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 543 reviews
This historic neighborhood consists of wide, tree-lined streets with mansions built during the Edo Period, only six of which remain and are open to the public. The area is particularly beautiful in late April, when the cherry trees are in full bloom.
Reviewed By WarnerL_12 - Pasadena, United States
There are a minimum six houses to visit (of which two are admission), others to be viewed from the exterior free since they are city maintained
3. Kesennuma Fukko Shotengai
4. Kakunodate
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 159 reviews
Kakunodate is an old castle town located on the northern part of the Senboku Plain. Located along the banks of the Tamagawa and Hinokinaigawa Rivers and cradled on three sides by mountains, this town is known both for its historic samurai mansions and the beautiful blossoming cherry trees that line the streets. Popular with tourists from all over the world, it has an atmosphere truly appropriate to its nickname of “the Little Kyoto.”
Reviewed By 781sarahb - Tacoma, United States
My sister and I had originally planned to spend our 2 days in this area hiking Nyuto/Hachimantai and Akita-Komagatake... but unfortunately the rainy season lingered and so we got tired of being soaked and fighting our way through the muddy/jungly terrain. Having basecamped at semi-remote Kuroyu Onsen (see separate review), Kakunodate was a one-hour drive south - but the driving was easy compared to other routes we did in Hachimantai. We had not planned this side-trip so we visited the very helpful tourist information/office first. My sister does speak Japanese - so that made things easier. We were given some English summaries/maps of the samurai houses - and specific advice to visit the museum house first (which cost about $5 equivalent each) and allocate an hour/most of our available time there (this was fairly accurate). We were also advised to drive to the samurai house district since we were told walking the whole route alone was a couple hours. Although we were told there was free parking, we somehow didn't find it at first - and paid $3 to park along the river (where there are many cherry trees that bloom in the spring); after heading out on foot, we actually did find a small free parking lot by the public restrooms that had room. We hit the museum first. I haven't studied or seen samurai gear much so seeing all that was the most interesting to me. The extensive gardens/grounds (with at least a dozen different buildings) were also impressive. We visited about 5 other free-to-enter samurai properties; most were smaller and simpler - and you could only walk around the exterior of the single-structure grounds. There were also lots of nice eating establishments in the samurai district - and, overall, it is a really cute area for tourism. We did enjoy an umeboshi (pickled plum) soft serve ice cream and we bought lots of low-cost handkerchiefs for coworkers. We were one of probably 20 small groups walking the same route of houses - nearly all others were Japanese families.
