One Day Trip in Aomori - Japan (Part 1)

Aomori prefecture is part of Tohoku and located near Hokkaido so you can reach Hokkaido within 2 hours by Shinkansen and local line. Aomori has various attractions such as nature, traditional culture, architecture and etc. Apple is one of popular products and it is an ingredient in main dish as well as desserts. You can read the access from Tokyo to Aomori from my previous post. I did not stay at hotel in Aomori but Morioka and traveled by Shinkansen so I visited the attraction near Aomori and Hachinohe.

In case of travel from Hakodate (Hokkaido) to Aomori, please see below detail

Take LTD. EXP SUPER HOKUTO or HAKODATE LINER  for SHIN-HAKODATE-HOKUTO from Hakodate Station to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto Station. Change to Shinkansen Hayabusa to Shin-Aomori Station, then JR OU LINE  for AOMORI to Aomori Station. Duration approximately 110-130 minutes. 

After I took Shinkansen and arrived at Shin-Aomori Station, I must change to JR OU line. Let's see inside Shin-Aomori Station. It is not busy station and easy to interchange to OU line. Many lanterns for Nebuta Festival are inside the station.

Finally, arrived Aomori Station. Souvenir shops in front of station. You can also buy Aomori souvenirs at A-Factory (mention later), Nebuta Museum WA RASSE or other stations in Aomori.  


There are many restaurants near the train station. As Aomori is near the river, seafood especially the scallop are ingredients of many main dishes. I had lunch at restaurant in front of the station. I ordered Hotate (ほたて) set. Hotate is scallop. This set is 1,000 yen. The taste is ok, nothing special but at least I tried seafood here.

Aomori Sightseeing Map

Aomori Map: Aomori Sightseeing Guide Website

Nebuta Museum WA RASSE and A-Factory are only few minutes walk from Aomori Station, East Exit. After get off the station, turn left and go straight. On the left side is A-Factory (Souvenir shops and restaurant) and on the right side is Nebuta Museum WA RASSE. I went to the museum first and bought some souvenir later because I did not want to carry it while visiting the museum.

Next to Nebuta Museum WA RASSE and A-Factory is Aomori Bay Bridge. It's windy around here. 

Nebuta Museum WA RASSE presents Aomori Nebuta Festival and the history as well as experience some of festival. Aomori Nebuta Festival is the largest festival of Aomori, helds annually during early August. The highlight are the giant lantern floats and dances.  

Nebuta Museum WA RASSE Opening Hours:

Nebuta Museum	May-August	9:00 am - 7:00 pm
	September-April	9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Restaurant	May-August	11:00 am - 8:00 pm
	September-April	11:00 am - 7:00 pm
Shop	May-August	9:00 am - 7:30 pm
	September-April	9:00 am - 6:30 pm

Closed: 31st December-1st January (whole facility is closed) 9th-10th August (The museum is closed for the changing of the floats on display. The shop and restaurant are open for business as usual.)

The souvenir shop and restaurant are on the 1st floor. The ticket counter is on the 2nd floor, take stairs on the left side or elevator on the right side. 

This is the admission fee after 1st October 2019.

Nebuta Museum		groups
		(10 people or more)
Adult	￥620	￥550
Student (High School)	￥460	￥410
Student (Elementary/	￥260	￥230
Junior High/ Middle School)

After buying the ticket, entered to Aomori Nebuta Tunnel which presents the history of the festival. 

These are some of Nebuta Festival. The first photo is from year 2018; Chogai, the God of Pagoda.  

Haneto Experience which you can try dancing and playing taiko drum like in the festival. The staff explains the history and detail of Nebuta Festival in Japanese. You can see the English subtitle on screen.

The dancing and playing taiko drum takes 30 minutes approximately.
Schedule: 11:00 am / 1:00 pm / 3:00 pm 

Moreover, you can try Nebuta papering experience. The activity takes 30 minutes at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. No additional fee for both activities.  

A-Factory is short walk from Nebuta Museum WA RASSE. There are 2 floors. The first floor, half zone selling the local products and the half zone is restaurant. The toilet is on the 2nd floor and this floor also has restaurant. Sometimes, the seats are full. 

Apart from the above attractions, other sightseeing spots are interesting such as Aomori Prefecture Tourist Center ASPAM (has observation deck, restaurants, local products shop., Sakurano Department Store, AUGA (Fish Market) and etc.

Continue Part 2 =>