I visited Japan three times in 2024: Fukushima in spring, Aomori and Hokkaido in autumn, and Kyoto, also in autumn. This blog post will detail my 12-day trip to Aomori and Hokkaido.
This journey was filled with beautiful ryokans, stunning sights, a few disappointments, and an unexpected encounter (more on that later). I traveled with my wife and mother-in-law.
I’ll be documenting my entire itinerary in this space. If you’d like a copy of my accommodations and places of interest, please leave a comment below!
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Day 1 was primarily focused on arrival and settling in.
Our flight landed in Haneda around 4 PM, effectively taking up half the day. From the airport, we took a taxi to Ueno Station, where we then transferred to the Shinkansen for our trip to Morioka.
Our hotel for the night was conveniently located a short walk from Morioka Station.
Our reason for stopping at Ueno was to visit the Ameyoko Street Market.
We wanted to purchase green tea and hojicha tea to bring back home, specifically from a shop called Chano-Kiminoen.
This shop was recommended by a young man at a tonkatsu restaurant we had visited earlier in the year. We were impressed by the fragrant hojicha served at the restaurant, and he shared that it was sourced from this particular shop.
My mother in law has started her buying spree. lol.
Round the corner, we found another shop selling green tea leaves too. Somehow this shop looks more legit. So we also bought from from them.
This duck ramen store was on my radar. Wanted to have dinner here but due to time constraint and the long queue, I had to skip. Shall be back another time to try.
Back to Ueno station, got our tickets to Morioka. It’s gonna take us about 2 hours to reach.
My bento dinner for the night. It was not very nice.
Richmond Hotel Morioka. This is our hotel for the night. It was spacious and clean.
And there’s a connected mini mart from the hotel lobby. Plus the fact it’s next to the train station, I think it’s very good value for money.
Supper. This new flavor is pretty good. Recommended.
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That’s all for day 1. Tomorrow will be start of the real adventure. Click here to read about day 2.
