Against all standard itineraries I had decided to go north from Tokyo, with the plan to eventually arrive in Hokkaido just after the conclusion of the Sapporo Snow Festival (to avoid the crowds, as it gets millions of visitors). I was also in the pursuit of true winter weather and snow, which the Tohoku region can and certainly did provide.

The Tohoku region comprises all of the north-eastern part of Japan's main island of Honshu. While not generally on the main tourist route, the region has loads to offer, particularly in winter based on my experience. It is the snowiest region in Japan and has the world's snowiest city (Aomori). I wasn't quite expecting the quantities of snow I saw, which seem to bury entire towns and cities and made getting around quite a challenging obstacle course at times. This year, the snow was to be aplenty, the most snowfall in 80 years and world records were broken for the quantity of snow falling within a certain time period (1.2 metres in 12 hours).

Sendai

Initially I stopped in Sendai, the largest city (1 million) in the Tohoku region and about 1.5hrs north of Tokyo by Shinkansen if using the Hayabusa service, the fastest in Japan. Sendai was hit hard by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake / tsunami will all know about, however I noticed very little of the destruction. The city felt like a miniature version of Tokyo and had some interesting small streets / alleys filled with Izakaya (small Japanese bars).

Sendai is also home to a monumental statue, of a woman, the bodhisattva Byakue Kannon, holding in her hand the cintamani gem. It is gigantic at 100 metres tall and being perched on top of a hill offers vistas across the city. When built it was the tallest statue in the world. Indeed it's so big you ride an elevator up inside and then walk down a spiral ramp/staircase that has 8 Buddha statues on each level for a total of 108. Temperature inside was about that of outside i.e. very cold.

Like every town and city in Japan, there's also a range of interesting temples and shrines in Sendai, which are very peaceful in winter with few visitors and have quite a unique atmosphere while snow is falling and there's icicles hanging off the eaves. Snowy weather comes with quietness (snow dampens sound) and it's very fitting for temples and shrines.

Kanunodate

From Sendai, taking the Akita bound Shinkansen you can get out in a town called Kanunodate that is known for it's samurai history and surrounding nature. It's also called the 'little Kyoto' of the Tohoku region and has some of the best preserved samurai houses in Japan and they're all co-located on a few streets. It's also visitied for its cherry trees/blossoms, all of which were well and truly hibernating at this time of year.

I was thankful to have a hotel booked about 20 metres from the station because the snow depth here was ridiculous and a number of proper blizzards came through during my stay. I was actually worried about coming to this town after hearing a Youtuber describe it as boring and that during winter it gave him an 'uncomfortable' feeling. This was certainly not my experience, it was one of my highlights and would happily revisit. This place in winter under deep snow (it was deep!) is quite surreal.

Ending this blog here, photos below.

Sendai

Kanunodate