The Tohoku Shinkansen Hayabusa from Tokyo to Sendai takes 1 hour 30 minutes and costs around ¥11,410 in unreserved ordinary class. Most travellers spend exactly 4 hours in the city before pushing on north, and most of them get those 4 hours wrong. They walk a few shopping arcades, eat passable beef tongue at the … Read more
Aomori is the prefecture at the top of Honshu, three hours from Tokyo on the Hayabusa shinkansen. A practical guide to the Nebuta Festival, Hirosaki cherry blossom, the Oirase walk, Lake Towada, Mt Osore and the Tsugaru stove train.
Yamagata is the Tohoku prefecture you should base in, not pass through. Yamadera, Zao snow monsters, Ginzan Onsen, the Three Mountains of Dewa, and the Mogami River boat: a long-form guide with verified 2026 prices.
A practical Tohoku travel guide to all six prefectures of Japan’s least-visited yet most-rewarding region. Six festivals, four seasons, the Sanriku coast post-2011, the JR EAST PASS unified March 2026, and named ryokan, restaurants and yen prices verified for 2026.
Tokyo to Sendai and back, with a Niigata side trip thrown in, costs about ¥33,540 in individual reserved-seat Shinkansen tickets at 2026 fares. The same itinerary on the new unified JR EAST PASS is ¥35,000 for five days, with another four days of free movement around Tokyo, Niigata and the whole Tohoku interior baked in. … Read more
