Tono is a small city located in Tohoku's Iwate prefecture. Known as the City of Folklore, Tono is well-known for its abundant collection of folktales as well as dedication to the preservation of traditional culture. Kunio Yanagita recorded the legends, the Tōno Monogatari, in 1910, preserving th..
Everyone seems to have their own favorite restaurant, cafe, or sweets shop. But if you are asking for bakery recommendations in Morioka, you are going to hear the same answer over and over again: Fukuda Pan Bakery (福田パン). What started as a simple bak..
If you find yourself in Hanamaki, Iwate, you don't want to miss out on a great dining experience. To say that Marukan is an institution in Hanamaki is an understatement. Not only do they have the restaurant and department store, they had at some ..
"Jan jan!" the waitress shouted encouragingly as she tilted the small bowl of noodles over the larger, empty bowl on the table in front of me. They slid into it with a dull splat and I gazed down at them sadly. "More more!" T..
Situated in the heart of Morioka, at the source of the city's animated pulse, is Hotel Metropolitan Morioka. Hotel Metropolitan Morioka is a convenient 2-minute walk from Morioka train station. From the station to the hotel, you will pass thro..
A hotel with a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, a tasteful local winery, a majestic mountain, and a peaceful farm all within a one-hour driving radius sounds pretty grand, doesn't it? Welcome to Hotel Folkloro Hanamaki Towa! In addition to..
While in my previous installment I introduced a small hot spring place called Dai Onsen, this time I will talk about my favorite hotel there. It is a Japanese style hotel, a so-called Ryokan, and you could call their style omakase, which basically m..
Cherry blossom viewing in Japan or "hanami" in Japanese, is to say the least the most popular pass time in spring if not the prime passion among most Japanese. Most people will pack a lunch basket or bento, some will pack a lot of alcoholic..
Long since enshrined a UNESCO protected cultural property, "washoku" as a word has now entered into the English language in response to the shortcomings of merely translating it as "Japanese cuisine". In short this is because ..
Geto Kogen or Geto Resort in Kitakami, Iwate is nicknamed King of Snow and for good reasons. It's has some of the highest snow fall in Tohoku. They get annually 5 to 6 meters of powder snow. They have 7 groomed slopes and 7 off piste areas in al..
