Central Tohoku Luxury in Nature

Central Tohoku Luxury in Nature

Head to the Northern Japan Alps and see a part of Japan not seen by most tourists and enjoy luxury in nature, Central Tohoku style.

The north-central part of Honshu Island is famous for its mountains, onsens and lush, green nature. During this journey, you’ll visit the areas of Aomori and Akita. Here, you’ll experience the beauty of rural Japan as usually only seen by locals. The natural sights, along with warm hearts and rich culture, will captivate and enthrall you.

In addition to stunning nature, your journey will take you to the north’s most well-preserved old town and see the life of samurai and merchants of old.

The luxury and beauty of Central Tohoku awaits you.

Day 1

Narita Arrival Transfer

Narita Arrival Transfer

Meet your driver in the arrival area and move to Tokyo. It is about a 90 minute drive.

Palace Hotel Tokyo

Palace Hotel Tokyo (1 night)

Location - Center of Tokyo adjacent to the Imperial palace gardens, in the heart of the financial and business district Marunouchi - 10-minute walk to Tokyo Station with 12 railways and bullet trains - Direct underground access to Otemachi Station with 5 metro lines - 30 minutes to Haneda Airport by taxi -60-90 minutes to Narita Airport by taxi - 10 minute taxi ride to famous Ginza shopping district - Free-standing hotel - Spacious guest rooms from 45sq.m./485sq.ft, most futuring balconies - Very first evian SPA in Japan - State of the art fitness facilities with indoor pool - 7 unique restaurants - 3 bars and lounges Services - Complimentary wireless/wired in-room Internet - Complimentary use of fitness center for staying guests - Complimentary mineral water - Complimentary daily newspaper

Day 2

Private vehicle transfer, hotel to station

Private vehicle transfer, hotel to station

Meet your driver in the lobby of your hotel and move to the station. Your driver will assist you in boarding your train.

Shinkansen - Tokyo - Hachinohe

Shinkansen - Tokyo - Hachinohe

Private Guided Tour

Private Guided Tour

Meet your guide in the lobby of the hotel and set out for a private guided tour.

Private vehicle, full day

Private vehicle, full day

Tour in the comfort of your own private luxury vehicle.

Christ's Grave

Christ's Grave

Near Lake Towada, in the remote town of Shingo, there are 2 interesting graves. What make them interesting is who, according to local legend, they are supposed hold: Jesus Christ and his brother, Isukiri. Ancient religious papers, found in the 1930's and destroyed during the war, Jesus traveled to Japan during his missing years ands studied here until he returned to his homeland. The legend says that Jesus was replaced by Isukiri on the cross and returned to Shingo where he lived until he was 106.

The town uses the tale as a local legend and has built a park on the site with two simple wooden crosses. In addition, a small museum was built near the graves. The museum's displays tells about other coincidences that contribute to the legend, such as supposedly non-Japanese looking villagers, strange local speech patterns and words and an idiosyncratic custom where parents draw a cross on a child's head before they leave home for the first time.

Towada Art Center

Towada Art Center

The Towada Art Center, opened in 2008, is a contemporary art museum in Towada City and is the main center of the city's effort to turn into the "City of Art," where visitors can enjoy art that blends in with the area's nature and cityscape. The center is made up of a mix of small, separate buildings connected by glass corridors.

The museum houses a permanent collection of over twenty modern art installations made by artists from all over the world, including Ron Mueck, Jeong Hwa Choi and Yoko Ono. All of these works were created for the Towada Art Center and most are housed in their own individual rooms, which were designed specifically for the artwork that they contain.

The museum has several outdoor exhibits and art displayed in unusual areas in the museum itself.

Hoshino Resorts Oirase Keiryu Hotel

Hoshino Resorts Oirase Keiryu Hotel (2 nights)

Hoshino Resorts Oirase Keiryu Hotel stands alone near the Oirase Keiryu mountain stream, one of the most picturesque locations in Japan.

The Oirase Keiryu stream shines its brightest early in the morning.

The chirping of birds echo through the silent calm, and the sunlight filters past the trees to sparkle on the water's surface, creating a truly graceful stream.

A place so fascinating, you forget the time.

Hoshino Resorts Oirase Keiryu Hotel features the beauty that is the Oirase Keiryu stream, to let guests immerse themselves in the undisturbed serenity of nature.

Day 3

Private Guided Tour

Private Guided Tour

Meet your guide in the lobby of the hotel and set out for a private guided tour.

Private vehicle, full day

Private vehicle, full day

Tour in the comfort of your own private luxury vehicle.

Mount Hakkoda

Mount Hakkoda

Mount Hakkoda is actually a group of volcanic peaks. The 5000-foot high mountain is one of Japan's 100 Famous Mountains.

The slopes of Mount Hakkoda are also a popular destination for outdoor activities. Visitors can hike the paths to the top or use the Hakkoda Ropeway instead. There is a short round path that leads from the ropeway to a small swampy area known for its flowers and grasses. Other paths spoke out to the other peaks that make up the mountain and one leads down the mountain to two beautiful marshlands, whose shrubs and foliage are near breathtaking in early autumn.

For winter activities, visitors can ski the mountain at the local ski resort, which is said to have some of the best off-piste skiing in Japan and is not very well-known yet.

They mountain is also known for its snow monsters, which are actually caused by the area's unique weather pattern causing the mountains trees to become covered in an usual style of snow that causes them to appear alive.

There are several onsens in the area, the biggest being Sukayu Onsen where even day visitors can soak in the bath's heavily-sulfurated water.

Oirase Stream

Oirase Stream

Oirase Stream is a beautiful mountain stream that is one of Japan's most famous and popular autumn colors destinations. It runs through the Oirase Gorge and winds its way through the local forest, which is lush green in the warmer months and turn vibrant colors in the fall. There are many waterfalls that drop from the gorge's edge into the stream.

A gentle hiking trail follows the most beautiful, upper part of the stream for about 9 kilometers, which is intersected with bridges and waterfalls. Unfortunately, there is a road that follows the path and the noise from the road can be distracting.

Lake Towada

Lake Towada

Lake Towada is the largest caldera lake on Honshu, Japan's main island. It has a pair of peninsulas that stretch far out into the lake. While most famous for its fall foliage (the area is considered one of the best in Japan), Lake Towada is beautiful in all seasons.

Lake Towada is surrounded by a sharp, tree-bedecked caldera edge that looms above the lake's waters. The area remains almost completely natural with only the village of Yasumiya in the vicinity. the town is the hub of the area with few simple attractions, a small museum of nature, some statuary and Towada Shrine.

There are two sightseeing cruises that both operate on the lake. One which begins and starts in Yasumiya and the other that runs between Yasumiya and the even smaller Nenokuchi village.

Day 4

Private Guided Tour

Private Guided Tour

Meet your guide in the lobby of the hotel and set out for a private guided tour.

Private vehicle, full day

Private vehicle, full day

Tour in the comfort of your own private luxury vehicle.

Hachimantai

Hachimantai

Hachimantai is a mountain-laden area across in Akita and Iwate Prefectures. It is part of the Towada-Hachimantai National Park. The region is far from Japan's cities and has some of the best countryside hot springs in Japan. The volcanic terrain will enchant and delight people looking to find the non urban side of Japan

Lake Tazawa

Lake Tazawa

Lake Tazawa, Japan's deepest lake, is a beautiful caldera lake in northern Akita that has not been overly developed and retains a natural atmosphere. The lake is often visited in conjunction with nearby sites like Nyuto Onsen or Mount Akita-Komagatake..

At one end of the lake stands the Goza no Ishi Shrine that is dedicated to the dragon who guards the lake. The dragon was once a beautiful woman, Tatsuko, who sought eternal beauty. She was cursed and turned into a dragon who rests at the bottom of the lake. Nearby is the Seven-Colored Tree, which is seven different species of trees growing out of one trunk.

There is the Miracle Spring where Tatsuko sought her beauty and the Mirror Rock, where Tatsuko admired herself.

There is a statue of Tatsuko on the shrine grounds, in which Tatsuko has the lower body of a dragon. On a different shore stands another statue of Tatsuko, this one in gold that shows her as a beautiful young woman.

The majority of the lake's shoreline is under-developed, but there is a visitors center and sightseeing boat docks on the eastern coast.

Natsuse Onsen Miyakowasure

Natsuse Onsen Miyakowasure (2 nights)

There are no other houses or hotels in the vicinity.

The silence lets you hear even the sound of the stream, the life of the woods, the birds singing and the sound of the snow falling.

Surrounded by pristine nature, you can enjoy the onsen welling up from underground and Tohoku cuisine made of the finest ingredients…

You can rejuvenate and replenish yourself.

Please come and truly appreciate the pleasure of Miyakowasure.

Day 5

Private Guided Tour

Private Guided Tour

Meet your guide in the lobby of the hotel and set out for a private guided tour.

Private vehicle, full day

Private vehicle, full day

Tour in the comfort of your own private luxury vehicle.

Kakunodate

Kakunodate

Kakunodate is a former castle town and samurai stronghold in today's Akita Prefecture. While the town's castle no longer remains, the town is famous for its samurai tradition and, also, its hundreds of weeping cherry trees (shidarezakura).

Surprisingly, Kakunodate has remained almost unchanged since it was first built in the early 17th century. The town was constructed with a samurai district and merchant district. The samurai district contains some of the best remaining samurai buildings in the country.

Kakunodate's cherry blossoms are known throughout the country and are considered one of the best in Tohoku, if not Japan.

Kakunodate Samurai District

Kakunodate Samurai District

The Kakunodate Samurai District at one time had over 80 samurai living there. , which once housed about 80 families, is one of the best examples of samurai architecture and housing in the country. There are wide avenues and large courtyards lined by dozens of weeping cherry trees (shidarezakura) which open in early May. During this time, the town is busy with visitors wanting to see the blossoms.

While many houses remain, only six are open to the public. Visitors are able to see how the samurai of the era lived. The two best preserved and of most interest are the Aoyagi House and the Ishiguro House.

The Aoyagi House is a surprisingly large collection of buildings that house museum collections, restaurants with local menus and gift shops. The house gives visitors a great deal of interesting information about samurai lifestyles and traditions and put Kakunodate into context with the rest of the country's history.

The area open in the second samurai home, the Ishiguro House, is very much smaller than at Aoyagi. This is because the family still lives in the house. There is a collection of samurai armor and clothing and drawings. The house also contains a well preserved kura (storeroom).

The other four houses (the Odano, Kawarada, Matsumoto and Iwahashi) are not open for visitors, but, when the weathers are good, the screen doors are opened and visitors can see into them.

There are two museums, the Denshokan and Omura Art, contain works of local crafts and traditional products and a private glass collection.

Kakunodate Merchant District

Kakunodate Merchant District

When Kakunodate was built, the town's design reflected the division between the merchant and samurai classes.

The building that attracts the most attention in the merchant district is the Ando Jozo Miso storehouse and shop. The Meiji Era brick storehouse houses a shop that still sells soy sauce and miso produced in the same way for the same way for over 150 years in its wonderfully maintained structure. Lovers of Japanese food come to the town to sample these goods.

Many traditional buildings house shops that sell local cherry bark products, known as kabazaiku. The product dates back to a 17th-century samurai, Fujimura Hikoroku, who made the craft popular among the local elites.

Nishinomiya House, once belonged to the Nishinomiya family, has several buildings on its compound. The well-preserved buildings were converted into a museum, a restaurant and a shop. The compound is representative of a wealthy multi-generational clan.

Kakunodate Castle Site

Kakunodate Castle Site

Located in a park overlooking the city, the Kakunodate (Furushiroyama) Castle site is on the location of a castle that was originally built sometime before 1590 as a mountain fortress. The castle was abandoned during the early Tokugawa Shogunate when it was decreed that each domain could have only one castle.

The site gives great views of the city and surrounding area.

Day 6

Private vehicle transfer, hotel to station

Private vehicle transfer, hotel to station

Meet your driver in the lobby of your hotel and move to the station. Your driver will assist you in boarding your train.

Shinkansen - Kakunodate - Tokyo

Shinkansen - Kakunodate - Tokyo

Private vehicle transfer, station to hotel

Private vehicle transfer, station to hotel

Meet your driver on the arrival platform and move to your hotel.

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo (1 night)

With its superb location in the city prestigious commercial district the first Mandarin Oriental hotel in Japan brings contemporary elegance to Nihonbashi the historical and cultural center of Tokyo since the 17th century.

Situated within the top floors of a soaring new landmark Mandarin Oriental Tokyo dynamically blends the best of past and future architectural splendor. Our 157 guest rooms and 22 suites are some of the largest in Japan the rooms boundaries dissolving with an expanse of glass walling that gives on to endless views across the metropolis.

The hotel is graced with paradigm setting restaurants and bars including 3 Michelin starred restaurants contemporary French cuisine Cantonese dining and innovative Molecular cuisine. An oasis-like fabulously well appointed and award winning spa in the sky.

Day 7

Narita Departure Transfer

Narita Departure Transfer

Meet your driver in the lobby of your hotel and move to Narita Airport. It is about a 90 minute drive.

Want to take a journey like this?

Enquire