**Our Trip & Itinerary**

We’re baaack!! After spending four weeks in Japan earlier this year, we’ve decided to return To Japan for our final destination of this grand worldwide adventure. We’re spending a little over three weeks in the country this time, and our journey begins with a quick overnight stop in Tokyo before continuing up the main island, Honshu. We’re spending New Year’s eve in Sendai, before continuing up through Morioka and Aomori on our way to the island of Hokkaido.

Tokyo

Our arrival to Tokyowas slightly more delirious this time around, after a twenty-two hour travel day from Phoenix to Tokyo, via a thirteen (!!!) hour flight from Dallas. With only a smattering of sleep on the plane, neither of our bodies quite knew what was happening as we exited Haneda airport. A few subway transfers later, we were thrust into Shinjuku at 10 PM, the heart of Tokyo’s nightlife. Even though the quiet Japanese New Year holiday was just around the corner, people here still lined up around the block to get into bars and pachinko parlors. Our sleep-deprived bodies wove through the crowds (as elegantly as humanly possible with our large suitcases), making as direct a path as possible towards our capsule hotel for the night. Once checked in, we crawled into our double bed with only a thin curtain separating us from the rest of the “hotel”, certainly one of the odder ways we’ve spent a night this year. After an off-and-on night's sleep, we awoke to a frigid Tokyo morning and set off in search of the only two things we would be getting in the city today, caffeine and food. We found the first at Coffee Swamp, a tiny room nestled in a small back alley with the best cafe mocha either of us have had in a long time. Spots like this are exactly why we fell in love with, and decided to come back to, Japan. The time and care the owner put into each $2.50 cup of coffee could only happen here. For our second necessity, we searched and searched but since this was December 31st, most places were already shut for the New Year holiday. So instead of running all over this massive city, we picked up our luggage and grabbed some tasty pastries from Boul’ange on the way out of town.

Sendai

Our first stop on our second tour of Japan was the seaside city of Sendai, 400 kilometers or a ninety minute Shinkansen ride north of Tokyo. With most of Japan’s population traveling for the New Year holiday, we found all train seats sold out all-day and stood in between carriages as our train sped along at up to 320 kilometers an hour (200 mph). Terrifyingly, you notice any small bumps in the tracks much more, when a derailment would mean instant death. We stepped off the train into a bustling station but once outside, the crowds disappeared and we found mainly shut shops and restaurants, with most shop owners prioritizing time with family. New Years in Japan is similar to our Christmas celebrations, where family time is of utmost importance. With most things closed, our afternoon and early evening didn’t consist of much, apart from feeding ourselves with the few remaining fresh food options at 7-Eleven. It sounds bleak, but honestly getting more of their food was a top Japan return to-do list item for us. As the evening turned to night, we made our way to the city’s most famous temple, Osaki Hachiman Shrine, hoping to ring in the New Year with the locals. We got to the temple a little early, around 10:30 PM, and were worried that what we’d read online was wrong…maybe people didn’t really go to make midnight prayers? Around 11:30, a few local police showed up and set up barriers to hold back the slowly growing crowd at the inner shrine’s gate. They didn’t seem to pay any attention to us however, and let us stay in front of the barricade, right next to the main shrine’s wall of prayer bells. At 11:58, they opened the floodgates and let the first cohort of worshippers through. The lucky few Buddhists who had been there early rushed up to the front, nodded their heads in prayer and waited for the now substantially larger crowd to count them down. As we approached the end of 2024, the crowd suddenly erupted to count us down the final fifteen seconds to midnight with a small cheer as the year passed into our rearview mirror. Suddenly the bells erupted in Joya no Kane, the midnight bell-ringing ceremony, and an Obosan began to hit the temple’s main drum, building with faster and faster strikes. We soaked up these first moments of 2025 before making our own New Year’s wishes. While quiet, the countdown felt fitting and like a cleansing start to a new year that will bring new challenges and adventures. Feeling grateful for the months behind us, we headed for the exit, passing the immense line that had accumulated since our arrival at the temple. We passed no less than one mile of line, with police officers gearing up to extend it even more. Clearly, we weren’t alone in our new year’s wishes.

We had intended to wake up for the first sunrise of the year, another Japanese New Year’s tradition, but when we opened our eyes and saw 10:04 on the clock, we accepted we might have missed that opportunity. So instead of rushing out the door, we decided to take a slow morning in our beautiful hotel room. We used free night awards from Marriott to book the Westin Sendai for our time here, resulting in our spacious, 34th floor room with an amazing view over the mountains to the city’s west. We enjoyed a late brunch at HEY, where the staff was incredibly accommodating and made Sarah a veggie breakfast burrito from scratch! From there, we made our way to Sendai’s second most popular temple, Zuihoji. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that entrance to shrine’s is free on New Year’s day, so we went straight up to the Zuihoden Mausoleum. The original mausoleum was destroyed by fire-bombing at the tail end of World War 2, but was rebuilt immediately following the war using old photos, drawings, and descriptions of the site. Its vibrant colors and detailed woodworking reminded us more of the Buddhist temples we had seen in South Korea than other shrines in Japan – an interesting overlap. The mausoleum was built in 1636 to be the final resting place of Date Masamune’s and his heirs as daiymō of the Date clan. The Date clan was the powerful Samurai family that ruled over this part of Japan during the Shogunate period. As such, when Masamune died, a number of his warriors committed seppuku, considered an honorable sacrifice upon the death of their leader. Leaving the mausoleum area, we were on our way to another temple here when we noticed three separate signs pointing out a very specific rock in the path that (apparently) looked like an ice skate. This is what we love so much about Japan, the culture that compelled someone to go so far out of their way to put up these signs, just to ensure that no one missed this small detail that might bring them a small moment of joy. We found out the other temples were all shut, but we chose to take a short, less-traveler path through the forest. We were surrounded only by a thin layer of snow and bird calls in the trees, an incredibly peaceful moment in the middle of the city. As this was still the New Year’s holiday, most restaurants were still shut leading to another 7-Eleven dinner, but as you already know, we weren’t complaining.

On our final day in Sendai we decided to make a short trip out to Matsushima, home to one of Japan’s great views over its hundreds of small pine-covered islands. Our first stop in the small town of Matsushima was Blue Bay Coffee, a tiny seaside coffee stand about the size of a closet, if that. The owner, a grey-haired fashionable Japanese man, was incredibly committed to the precision of each cup. He weighed each serving of beans before grinding them, then did the same for the resulting espresso, and poured frothed milk into our to-go cups like it was the most important thing he would ever do. His care and focus is not specific to his stand, but is a great representation of the Japanese commitment to perfection. Delicious lattes in hand, we walked through the town to Entsuin, home to a small but perfectly manicured garden. It didn’t take us very long to make our way through this small space, but the attention to detail was another reminder of the pursuit of perfection. Each person takes such pride in their role, each blade of grass is cut to the exact length it needs to be, each branch arranged where it fits best, and each stone grave marker maintained with care and respect. Even though we didn’t spend long here, the moments we spent sitting alone in silence by the garden’s pond were some of the most peaceful we’ve felt since the last time in Japan. Next door from these gardens stands Zuiganji Temple and its historic central Hondo. The impressive structure was completed in 1609 and remains today much like it did when constructed. We moved through this space, amazed that it’s still standing in such a pristine state. We tried to imagine ourselves in the Shogunate era, tried to picture Samurai and Obosan sitting in this space, hosting important visitors or passing judgements on criminals. What a world that must have been! No wonder the first western visitors to Japan were so captivated by these cultural nuances, everything about it was so much more rigid and refined compared to what they knew. Leaving Zuiganji, we walked through one of the town’s many parks to the seafront and along the water until we reached the bridge out to Fukuurajima, one of the bay’s many pine-covered islands. We crossed the 252 meter bridge to this small rocky outcropping and wandered through its several viewpoints, taking in the impressive sights. The islands rise out of the water as mounds of rock, some barely large enough to walk on, yet they’re all dotted with plant life - even the smallest tree finds a home here. Quickly running out of ground to cover on this isle, we crossed the bridge back to the mainland and found a train to take us back into the center of Sendai.

Returning to the city, the quiet streets of the past two days had suddenly been transformed by hoards of post-holiday shoppers, converging in every store to take advantage of their large new years sales. New Year's shopping is big in Japan, especially in Sendai, as shops not only offer great discounts, but pre-packaged bundles for even better prices that make for a great bargain. Finding some of the prices too good to resist, we joined the crowds and filled our shopping baskets with wildly-discounted clothing. Turns out our only issue was Japan’s slightly different sizing to what we’re used to – suddenly Jackson wasn’t a large but a XXL and Sarah didn’t fit into any mediums! Some things didn’t have our needed arm or leg length no matter what size we tried on. Undeterred, we visited several stores and eventually did find a few items to take home. Now we were truly feeling like locals, midnight prayers on New Year’s Eve, 7-Eleven for dinners, and filling our suitcases with post-New Year’s sales. Sounds pretty Japanese to me!

Morioka

We departed the following morning for Morioka, another 200 kilometers or about forty minutes up the Shinkansen line from Sendai. As we flew along, the snow on the ground outside the trains started to get noticeably thicker, as fields changed from checkerboard brown and beige, to pure white expanses of snow. We found Morioka had mainly cleared their streets of snow, but we saw remnants of the previous snowstorm at Morioka Castle Park, home to the ruins of the town's old fortress, coated in a thick layer of snow and slick ice. We slowly made our way up the slippery ramp to the upper levels, giggling at our slippery ascent with other visitors. Unfortunately, we came looking for a view of the city, but found there really wasn’t much more to see here. Reversing our icey walk up at snail’s pace, we wandered the town’s small shopping street and past the Sakurayama shrine, where we found a line of people still waiting to make New Years prayers. We had chosen to stay at Dormy Inn in Morioka, not really thinking much about it except for its attractive price. Boy were we glad we stayed here! First, the hotel is home to an impressive Onsen on its tenth floor, complete with both indoor and outdoor hot baths, a cold plunge, and a sauna. If that impressive spa wasn’t enough, the hotel also provides free noodles each night from 9:30 to 11 PM and free ice cream outside the Onsen from 3 PM to 1 AM. All of this comes with the standard Japanese hotel offering of free amenities like hair brushes, dental kits, and pajamas, which guests are encouraged to wear down to dinner and into the Onsen. Without thinking about it, we had stumbled upon one of our favorite hotels from this part of our trip, and all for $65 per night.

To explore more of the northern area of Honshu, we spent our next day taking a full-day side trip to the small town of Hiraizumi. While there isn’t a whole lot to see in this town itself, it is home to two World Heritage sites in the gardens of Motsu-ji and the numerous temples at Chuson-ji. The one hundred kilometer train ride from Morioka, with several stops included, took just over an hour on what Japan refers to as a “slow-train”. From the station, we walked through this sleepy, snowy town to the gardens as flurries began to fall around us. The gardens here were founded in 850, with temples built in the early 1100’s. At its height, researchers estimate the whole site had up to 40 primary buildings and 500 secondary chapels, each ornately decorated. The main hall was brightly painted with real gold and the grounds were home to huge statues of the twelve divine generals. Sadly, nothing is left of the original sprawling religious buildings today, as with many ancient structures in Japan, they were slowly destroyed by fires throughout the centuries. What exists now are a few small replica shrines, built around 300 years ago, and the beautiful garden grounds. We had several amazing garden visits during our last trip to Japan in April, but seeing them now, covered in snow and ice instead of dotted with cherry-blossoms was a strange sight. While the snow does add an interesting variation, we have to say April is the high-season for a reason. Leaving the gardens, we walked through another few kilometers of this sleepy town to Chuson-ji, a huge series of temples that was founded in either 850 or 1095, depending on who you ask. This religious area was similar in size to the nearby Motsu-ji, with about 40 primary buildings and 300 monks’ residences. Several structures and artifacts have survived here, including the magnificently ornate Konjiki-dō, which is completely covered in shimmering gold leaf. We took our time to wander through several of the shrines here, each placed on the grounds thoughtfully and delicately built. Ending up at the Hakusan shrine, we each found small shrines to our zodiac birth-years and said another small New Year prayer, ringing the miniature bell on each one. Wanting to avoid getting temple fatigue this early in our trip, we spent an hour here before jog-walking back to the station across icy streets to catch the next train back to the promise of free noodles in Morioka.

Aomori

Aomori is a unique spot in Northern Japan. While it is known for its delicious apple products, the city holds the title for snowiest city in the world too! Apparently, the city’s location between the Hakkōda Mountains and Matsu Bay creates the perfect storm of plenty of moisture and cool air, and thus heaps of snow. As we pulled into the station our eyes went wide when we saw the mountains of snow piled along the roads, quickly realizing that they have rightfully earned this title. We heaved our suitcases over the icy roads, noticing that frequent storms must make it difficult for locals to entirely clear the roads. The town itself is very quiet, a trait that is only amplified by the snow’s ability to absorb sound. The architecture on the waterfront is sleek and elegant, reminiscent of Copenhagen’s modern look. It is here that we discovered the A-Factory and sampled a number of different apple products from the Aomori prefecture. There are endless apple juices, tarts, cakes, and jams to try from, each of them sweeter and juicier than the last.

Feeling rather apple-shaped, we ventured into the Nebuta WaRasse Museum, a space dedicated to showcasing the parade floats and taiko drums of the Nebuta Festival, which is held in the region every summer. Legend says that the festival originated in the early 9th century when shōgun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro used folk flutes and taiko drums to attract the enemy during a battle in the Matsu Province. Unlike traditional designs, the floats built for the parades are now constructed using wire frames, washi paper, and generator-powered lights to illuminate them from inside. The results are truly massive, glowing floats that depict mythical or political figures from Japanese and Chinese culture. The floats, weighing up to 4 tonnes (!!), are pushed by hand through the city’s streets to the sounds of powerful drumbeats and ethereal flutes. While at the museum, we had the chance to play the taiko drums - a light touch seemed to produce the loudest sound!

While coffee is a popular drink in Japan, most locals prefer meticulously roasted drip coffee, which aims to extract the coffee bean’s full flavor. With our unrefined and frankly weak Western palettes, we frequently found ourselves searching high and low for coffee with milk or added flavor. Aomori definitely has fewer options to satisfy our basic taste buds, so we were thrilled to find COFFEEMAN Good. This little spot is tucked between random shops and barely fits four people. Its interior is warm and cozy – we chose to sit at the top of the stairs to overlook the workings of the cafe. The cafe has a wide selection of caffeinated drinks, but our absolute favorite was the Tsugaru miso caramel cappuccino, a beautifully frothy cup of coffee layered with rich umami and light sweetness. It was truly one of the best coffees we have ever tried! Thank you to Hassy for such a warm welcome and amazing drinks!

Another highlight of our Aomori visit was the Aomori Museum of Art, located about thirty minutes from the center of town. The building is modern and bare, taking inspiration from the partially buried Sannai-Maruyama archaeological site nearby. For nearly 20 years, the museum has aimed to share Aomori art with locals and provide a stage for their works to shine on a world stage. Truthfully, the main exhibition by Yoshitomo Nara wasn’t our cup of tea, but some of his sculptures were quite the spectacle, including the Aomori Dog that stands at 8.5 meters tall (28 feet). One of our favorite areas of the museum was the Aleko Hall, where four gigantic works by Marc Chagall are currently being displayed. The works were painted as backdrops for the Aleko ballet in 1942 and each span an impressive 9 meters high and 16 meters tall. Each painting evokes a different emotion and each aims to reflect a tumultuous time in Chagall’s own life after he was exiled to the US to escape the Nazi Regime. He leans into the idea that his homeland lives on only in his mind, where it remains “the place to hope for enduring peace, passionate love, and eternal freedom”.