Is this your first time in the Hachinohe Area? Then this is the itinerary for you! It covers not just the city of Hachinohe, but the surrounding towns and villages too. So get ready for an adventure that includes everything from fruit picking to eating fresh senbei Sannohe to enjoying Takko town’s famous garlic. Of course, the itinerary includes all the great spots in Hachinohe city as well.
If you’re looking for an introduction to the best sights of the Hachinohe area, and more food than you could ever need, then this is the list for you.
Itinerary
Day 1
Hachinohe City
Hachinohe Station
- Arrive:
- 10：00
- Details:
- Rent a Car
Nanbu town
- Arrive:
- 10：40
- Estimated Time Required (ETR):
- 15 min
Choose between Option A: The Nagawa Cherry Center
Inside this structure modeled off of a log house, you can find all of the season’s best local vegetables, fruits, flowers, and over 100 types of local products. While here load up on snack and local drinks for your trip ahead. Particularly recommended is the locally produced apple juice and jam.
Or Option B: Nanbu Doki
Nanbu Doki is a great place to grab a coffee at the start of any trip. This store started as a way to promote the Nanbu town area while utilizing local resources. Using wood chips made from the wood of local fruit trees like Japanese sour plum and cherry blossom trees, the store home-smokes an assortment of food such as nuts, salmon and mackerel. The store is also part café and serves an assortment of drinks, and has ample room to slowly relax.
Sannohe
- Arrive:
- 11：20
- ETR:
- 15 min
The Oyamada Senbei Store
The Oyamada Senbei store is a store in Sannohe that has been making the local specialty of Nanbu senbei for over 100 years. With a variety of flavors and styles to choose from this store has been a favorite of the people for generations. Just watching the staff fill the cast-iron molds with dough and then quickly snatch the Nanbu senbei with speed and precision when they are done is worth trip out to see itself. But of course, the main thing to do here is eating! We recommend trying a fresh tenpo senbei straight from the irons.
Takko
- Arrive:
- 12：10
The Watermill of Takko
- ETR:
- 10 mins
Next visit the watermill located in the town of Takko. This watermill was built back in the Edo era and still stands in the fields even to this day. With its thatch roof and surrounding scenery, it is said to be one of the most beautiful spots in the area.
Lunch at Takko Town’s Garlic Center
- Arrive:
- 12：40
- Time Required:
- 60 min
The restaurant inside the garlic center is one of the places you can eat Takko’s famous “Garlic Steak & Rice”. The facility also has a dazzling array of garlic related products, a small exhibit room about garlic, and is highly recommended to anyone who likes garlic even in the slightest.
Make Your Own Senbei at Tapukopu Village
- Arrive:
- 13：55
- Time Required:
- 60 min
The Tapukopu Village is an area composed of several centaury old farmhouses that were gathered together, renovated, and turned into a community activity space. In one of these old farmhouses, you can try your hand at making your very own mochi-senbei, or a soft version of the Nanbu Senbei. After picking your topics and hand grilling your Nanbu senbei, you get to eat it!
Sannohe
- Arrive:
- 15：25
- Time required:
- 15 minute
Option A: The Sannohe Roadside Station
Besides the two great local specialties of Nanbu Senbei ice-cream sandwiches and a local treat called Kinkamochi, the Sannohe Roadside Station also offers an abundance of local farm produce, products, and goods relating to the famous Japanese children’s book ‘The 11 Hungry Cats’.
Option B: The Mausoleum of Nanbu Toshiyasu
This mausoleum was built in 1623 for the deceased son of the 27th lord of the Nanbu Domain. A beautiful example of the gorgeous and elaborate Momoyama Architectural style of the early Edo period, the mausoleum has been praised as one of the greatest Tohoku area.
Hachinohe
- Arrive:
- 16：30
Hotel in Downtown Hachinohe
- Check-in
Dinner in Miroku Yokocho (bar alleyway)
If you are looking for a great place to try some of Hachinohe’s delicious and unique cuisine, then the Miroku Yokocho or bar alleyway is the place to go. A narrow street lined on both sides with little bars serves up an assortment of everything you could want. A great place to relax and chat with the locals, this is a must-try on any visit to the Hachinohe Area.
Day 2
Hachinohe City
Leave Hotel
Hachinohe Portal Museum ‘hacchi’
- Start Time:
- 10：00
- ETR:
- 60 min
The Hachinohe Portal Museum hacchi is a facility conveniently located in downtown Hachinohe. Part museum, part community facility, and part event space, ‘hacchi’ is the perfect place to get a broad view of the culture and history of the Hachinohe Area. Within the building, there are small stores, restaurants, cafes, and the wooden lion dance clock that goes off every hour on the hour is a popular site to watch.
Explore Kabushima
- Arrive:
- 11：20
- Time required:
- 30 min
Kabushima was once a small separate island right off the coast of Hachinohe’s shore, but today it has a paved road and walkway that leads to the small rocky hill that used to form the island. It is a designated natural monument as it is home to the breeding grounds of the black-tailed gulls, and every year tens of thousands of gulls fly up from the south to breed and rear their young. Although the original shrine was lost in a fire, a new shrine is being rebuilt in its place.
Lunch at the Seaside Restaurant Kofunato
- Arrive:
- 11：50
- Time required:
- 60 min
This seaside restaurant is perched directly on the seashore overlooking tide pools and crashing waves. Take in the commanding and magnificent view of the Tanesashi Coast as you enjoy the delicious and fresh seafood offered by the restaurant.
Learn about the Coast at the Tanesashi Information Center
- Arrive:
- 13：20
- Time Required:
- 45 min
This information provides a great introduction to all you need to know about the Sanriku Fukko National Park, Tanesashi Coast, and Hashikami area. Along with ample area to rest in, the facility also has lots of recommendations for activities along the coast and a café as well.
- Arrive:
- 14：20
Option A: Enjoy Tai-an Shokudo’s Famous Fried Chicken
- ETR:
- 20 min
The Tai-an Shokudo gained its popularity from having the best fried chicken in the whole of Hachinohe’s Sunday morning market. Bursting with originality and lively hospitality, the restaurant has a full menu available as well as a wide assortment of deep-fried dishes available, chicken and otherwise. The thing to try though is the ever-popular shioteba or salt chicken wings. Other popular food includes the great fried squid and the asaichi (morning market) croquette.
Option B: Try Local Sake at the Hachinohe Shuzo (the Hassen Sake Brewery)
- ETR:
- 60 min
Hachinohe Shuzo is a long-established sake brewery dating back to 1775. The brick warehouse, the storehouse and the wooden main buildings that were built in the Taisho era have been designated as National Tangible Cultural Properties and Prefectural Important Scenic Buildings.
The brewery is very particular about using organic natural rice and yeast grown in Aomori prefecture and considers health and the environment in its brewing. Mutsu Otokoyama is a dry sake beloved in local fishing villages, while Mutsu Hassen features a splendid ginjo-type aroma and a refreshing sweetness. Brewery tours and sake tastings are available.
Visit the Hasshoku Center
- Arrive:
- 15：00 or 15:40
- ETR:
- 60 min
The main attraction of the Hasshoku Center is the fish market where visitors can see the enormous variety of fish caught in and around the Hachinohe area. But with 60 stalls and stores in total, there is so much at the center besides fish. Dry goods, vegetables, fruits, meat, and local sake the food and drink available is endless. Cook your food on charcoal grills at the shichirin mura restaurant, try amazingly fresh sushi at one of the several sushi restaurants, or even enjoy a bowl of delicious ramen if you are feeling fished out. The center is also home to a large selection of souvenir stores so it is a great place to pick up some last-minute gifts.
