The 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear incident occurred in the region of Northeast Japan, or Tohoku (東北) in Japanese. The region covers a large swath of northern Honshu (the main island of Japan), spanning 6 prefectures, facing the Pacific Ocean in the east and the Japan Sea in the west. The impact from the disaster was mainly in the coastal areas on the Pacific side only, and now that quite a few years had past, most places are on their way to recovery. The summer heat in Tokyo was getting strong, and heading north is a good way to cool down. It’s a good time to visit the Northeast.

It’s quite a hectic itinerary as we would be travelling through all (but one) of the prefectures in 9 days, starting from the south on the eastern side in Yamagata prefecture (山形県), going through Miyagi (宮城県), Iwate (岩手県), all the way to the northern-most point of Honshu in Aomori prefecture (青森県), then coming back down on the western side to Akita (秋田県). We weren’t adventurous enough to visit Fukushima (福島県) yet – it’s disappointing to see how the nuclear situation there is still not completely sorted out.

Itinerary

	Day 1	Yamagata City and Beef (山形市・山形牛)
	Day 2.0	Zao Okama Caldera (蔵王御釜)
	Day 2.1	Fox Village, Sendai (蔵王キツネ村・仙台)
	Day 3.0	Yamadera (山寺)
	Day 3.1	Matsushima (松島)
	Day 4	Cave Ryusendo (岩手県・龍泉洞)
	Day 5.0	Hachinohe Hasshoku Centre (八戸・八食センター)
	Day 5.1	Aomori City, Sannaimaruyama Site (青森市・三内丸山遺跡)
	Day 6.0	Osorezan (恐山)
	Day 6.1	Cape Oma (大間崎)
	Day 7.0	Cape Shiriya (下北半島・尻屋崎)
	Day 7.1	Hirosaki Apple Park (弘前市りんご公園)
	Day 8.0	Shirakami-Sanchi Twelve Lakes Aoike (白神山地十二湖・青池)
	Day 8.1	To Akita, Inn That Sound’s Good (秋田へ・サウンズグッド)
	Day 9.0	Lake Tazawa, Kakunodate (田沢湖・角館)
	Day 9.1	Omagari Fireworks (大曲の花火)