Tohoku Tabi

I'm traveling around Tohoku this summer by local train. 今年の夏は普通電車で東北旅をしています〜

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Nokke Don のっけ丼 Not too far from Aomori station, Furukawa fish market serves up some Nokke Don! ✨🍣✨ What is Nokke Don? Literally translated, "Nokke" means to place on (something) and "Don" is rice bowl. So, Nokke Don is the ULTIMATE customizable sushi bowl! You choose from dozens of vendors what you want to put on your steaming hot bowl of sushi rice! ✨🦑✨ You go to Furukawa fish market, here are the steps to eat Nokke Don: 1. Buy tickets to exchange for toppings. I recommend getting the ¥1300 for 10 tickets. It's a steal deal for the amount of fresh sashimi you can get on your bowl. 2. Exchange 1 ticket for your bowl of rice and a tray from stand #2. 3. Wander around the market and choose the toppings you like! - TIP⭐️ Be picky! Many of the vendors sell the same products, you can take your time and pick the ones that look the most delicious/fresh or are the biggest pieces! - TIP⭐️ Reading Japanese. Many of the toppings are written only in Japanese and so are the number of tickets you need to exchange them with. Generally, most shops will have something written like "2切1枚" = "2 slices (of sashimi) for 1 ticket." Just remember the kanji, 枚=ticket! - TIP⭐️ Not just fish! You can pile up your bowl high with sashimi and seafood, but many vendors also sell different dishes as well! Like traditional pickled vegetables, hot soups, and tempura. - TIP⭐️ No more tickets? If you run out of tickets, you can always buy directly from the vendors with cash! The tickets just save everyone time! 4. Once you see a topping you like, tell the vendor you'd like it and they'll plop it right on to your bowl for you! Don't worry about language barriers, gestures definitely work at this fish market! 5. After you've used up all your tickets, grab a seat anywhere in the fish market and chow down! You can't take the bowl outside to eat, but the main charm for me is to eat it in the fish market anyways! 6. When you finish eating, you can take your tray and take them to a sink to quickly wash it and throw away your garbage. ✨🍣✨ Nokke Don is an experience you DEFINITELY have to try when you're in Aomori! It's really fun to interac and talk to the vendors, while making your own custom sushi bowl!!!

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Anmon Falls at the Shirakami Sanchi 暗門の滝@白神山地 The Shirakami Sanchi is an expansive mountain range encompassing Aomori and Akita prefectures that has a near-perfect example of a primeval Japanese beech, "buna," forest. It is a World Heritage UNESCO site and has a lot of hiking trails available for visitors to experience relatively unsoiled nature. When I first heard the term, "primeval forest," I wasn't exactly sure what it meant! It made me think of ancient and old, which is a good descriptor of what the Shirakami Sanchi is. The beech trees in the Shirakami Sanchi have been growing relatively undisturbed from human forces for hundreds of years. Another way to describe "primeval forest," would be "old growth forest," a prime example of how forests can thrive without human intervention. The hiking trail we took to the Shirakami Sanchi took us to Anmon Falls which are a trio of powerful waterfalls. Conditions on the trail are varying depending on the season and we were unable to hike out to the last waterfall due to treacherous conditions. Because conditions are varied, you must also rent helmets (¥100) before you can hike out to the waterfalls. At the Shirakami Sanchi, it's possible to view the cyclical force of nature. Whilst on the hike, you can also take a detour to observe Japanese beech trees in a regenerative cycle. We were able to see saplings growing in sunny patches opened up by fallen beech trees, and trees that looked like they were in their teen years, slowly but surely growing into sturdy duplicates of the their ancestors.

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Sannai-Maruyama Site 三内丸山遺跡 Around Tohoku, there are several archeological excavation sites that have unearthed Jomon period dwellings and artifacts. The Jomon period is a long prehistoric period of Japanese history that lasted from somewhere in the area of 14,000 - 300 BCE. During this time, Japan was inhabited by a hunter-gatherers which evolved into a society that had a cultural identity. The cultural complexity is evident in the abundance of tools and other artifacts that have been uncovered. The word Jomon is taken from the kanji, 縄文, which has been translated to mean "cord-marked/patterned." In Jomon pottery, there are distinct patterns that have been made by impressing woven cord into the clay. The Sannai Maruyama site is easily accessible by bus from Aomori station and offers amazing insight into the Jomon period by reconstructing what their dwellings might have looked like and by also displaying excavated artifacts. Best of all, it's FREE to visit. A true service to society to allow the public to freely come into contact with history!

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Fifth leg: Mutsu, Aomori - Aomori city, Aomori (104 km, 2 hours) 次: むつ市から青森市まで〜 (104キロ, 2時間)

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Osorezan 恐山 There was pretty much only one reason why I wanted to go up to the Shimokita peninsula - that was to visit Osorezan. Osorezan has been called many things: Cape Fear, Fear Mountain, the Portal to Hell... in its past, it was a place that was inspired awe and terror. A space commingling the base emotions of the human soul. In the present day, Osorezan is regarded as one of the three most sacred places in Tohoku alongside Dewasan Zan (the Three Holy Mountains of Dewa) in Yamagata prefecture and Kinkasan island just off the coast of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture. The allure of being able to visit these sacred and holy spaces caught my attention and curiosity, I knew I had to go. At Osorezan, I was able to observe the different threads that were spun into the tapestry of this legend of a mountain. It is part tourist attraction as the 500 yen entrance fee proclaims, it is part working temple as the welcomeness to have the general public engage in Buddhist ceremonies made evident, it is also otherworldly and alien as the sulfuric landscape and pristine lake collide with each other. If you go to Osorezan, be prepared to wander and stumble around volcanic landscapes; be prepared to to witness sadness as I did when I saw family members mourning the loss of a recently deceased family member; and be prepared to be still and bathe in the beautiful dread.

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Fourth leg: Lake Towada, Aomori/Akita border - Mutsu, Aomori (132 km, 5 hours) 
次: 十和田湖からむつ市へ〜 (132キロ, 5時間)

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Towada Art Center. 十和田現代美術館.

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Oirase Valley. 奥入瀬渓谷。 Lake Towada spills out into a 14km river valley called the Oirase. Primeval, powerful and peaceful. 奥入瀬渓谷は十和田湖から始めます。すごかったなパーワスポットでした。 If you chose to walk the entire 14km, you're gonna be treated with powerful streams of surging waters and incredible waterfalls, almost entirely to yourself. 時間ややる気があれば、奥入瀬渓谷は歩いてみよ〜

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A collection of very good onsen rules. 温泉の使い方。

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Lake Towada 十和田湖 Lake Towada is otherworldly in its beauty with extremely clear water that reflects deep blues and emerald greens. It's a double caldera lake and it's the largest crater lake on Honshu, the main island in Japan. 十和田湖はすごく綺麗なところでした。本州で一番大きなカロデラ湖てます。湖の色がピカピカして、この世のものとも思えません。 Quiet lakeside town, Yasumiya, is the portal to exploring Lake Towada. Yasumiya is nestled between the borders of Aomori and Akita prefecture. It's an extremely sleepy town with most of the shops and restaurants closing around 5pm, but it is perfect for slowing down, relaxing, and just simply enjoying life. 十和田湖に行けば、休屋町は良い止まっているところです。青森と秋田県の間で、休屋町はすごく静かな町だけど、そこでゆくっり楽しんでいます。 I think I forgot how much I missed being so close to the water and being surrounded by mountains. Coming from Vancouver, Lake Towada felt like a nostalgic vacation that I would take while back home. 私はカナダのバンクーバーから来たん、バンクーバーは海や山の中心のところです。そのためで、十和田湖はすごく懐かしなところと思います。

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Third leg: Morioka, Iwate - Lake Towada, Aomori/Akita border (202 km, 4 hours) 次: 盛岡から十和田湖へ〜 (202 キロ, 4時間)

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Hiraizumi, Iwate 平泉市、岩手県

Hiraizumi is a town that has a rich history stemming from the prosperity of Heian Era and the powerful Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara clan was a very distinguished clan and brought Hiraizumi to a powerful standing on par with Japan’s capital at the time, modern day Kyoto.

The town prides itself on housing several World Heritage Sites such as Chuson-ji, the Golden Temple of the north.

You can’t take pictures of it, but Chuson-ji kicks Kinkakuji’s butt in my humble opinion. Of course, the entire temple is made of gold, but it also has mother of pearl inlay and exotic red sandalwood, which would have cost a fortune to bring from abroad back then. It was seriously so extra.

It made me think of monuments - why do we build them? How do we decide the style in which to build them? For whom, are they for?

The last three leaders of the Fujiwara clan are supposedly still kept in the golden temple. They were apparently a very revered clan as they brought a lot of prosperity and innovation to Hiraizumi. Now, it seems as though Hiraizumi is following the path of many small towns in Japan, depopulation and stagnant growth; however, with a steady tourism industry. To me, it seems that without Chuson-ji and other monuments established by the Fujiwara clan - Hiraizumi could have gone a worse route.

Are these monuments, made lavishly by the Fujiwara clan, still providing a stable prosperity to the region? Is the Fujiwara clan still protecting their home turf beyond the grave with these monuments?

Just some of the questions I think of when I travel!

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Morioka Jajanmen! 盛岡B級グルメのじゃじゃん麺です！ This dish is also one of Morioka's B gourmet delicacies - known as Jajanmen. But perhaps it might look and sound familiar to my Taiwanese or Chinese readers!? Yes, it's pretty much Zha Jiang Mien! えぇ！じゃじゃん麺と言う食べものは中国や台湾からの麺料理は似ています！ Zha Jiang Mien is one of my favorite dishes that my mom makes. If you aren't sure what it is - it's like the Chinese answer to bolognese sauce. It's a meaty sauce made with fermented bean paste (we usually put doubanjang in it) that is heaped on top of chewy stretchy noodles, garnished with fresh veggies. My mom always put thinly sliced cucumbers and carrots on top. 🥒 🥕 盛岡じゃじゃん麺はミートソースにかけての麺料理です。中国風のボロネーゼ見たいです。子供のころはお母さんはいつもこの料理を作ってくれました。この料理は私にすごく懐かしいの味が持ています。 Similarly to the import of Morioka cold ramen from Korea, Jajanmen has been imported from China. However, it's undergone a few changes to become a unique dish from Morioka! Especially with the addition of chitantan - or the final step of turning your noodles into egg drop soup! 🥚🍲 じゃじゃん麺にとして、中国からの輸入したの料理でした。そしたこの麺はスペシャルポイントがあります！麺が終わっちゃたまでに、スープを入れて、チタンタンと言う料理を作ろう！ This is how you eat Jajanmen in Morioka! 食べ方を教えてもらいます！ 1. Get your bowl of noodles topped with ground miso pork paste and mix throughly! ミートソースにかけての麺をよく混ぜます。 2. Add whatever additional toppings you'd like (garlic paste, white pepper, vinegar). お好みのトッピングをかけます。 3. Eat your noodles (but save a bit for the soup!!!)! すぐ食べて！チタンタンのためで、麺が少し溜まります。 4. Grab a raw egg from the basket on the table. テーブルの上の生卵を麺に入れます。 5. Crack it into your plate and mix throughly! よく混ぜます！ 6. Call the waiter over, and have them add broth made from the boiling water that the noodles were cooking in. 店員さんから麺湯を入れてくれます。 7. Enjoy your Chitantan, egg drop soup! チタンタンで仕上がりました！ I love the novelty and playfulness of dishes becoming another - dry noodles into soup. This is how we play with our food when we get old! ✨✌️🤓 私は大人なので、こう言う面白いな料理が大好きです！

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Morioka Cold Ramen 🍜🍉 It tastes a lot like Korean naengmyeong with the heavy bone broth tinged with kimchi heat 🔥 It's also known as Morioka Reimei instead of ramen and that's not a typo! The kanji for "Rei" means to cool (as in cold) and this is exactly what it is! The watermelon was a surprise, but it worked well with the salty spicy broth. The Japanese often eat watermelon with salt on top, anyways, to enhance its sweetness. 盛岡冷麺を食べました！Ｂ級グルメは興味あるんだから、ずっと食べたかった！スイカも入ってた！そこがちょっとびっくりだたでも美味しかた✨✨

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Second leg: Soma, Fukushima - Morioka, Iwate (238 km, 5 hours)
次: 相馬から盛岡へ〜 (238 キロ, 5時間)

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Organic. オーガニック。 It's tradition when you leave the farm to write a parting piece of calligraphy. I chose to write organic. Please marvel at how bad I am at writing katakana 🤓 大野村農園に卒業してな人は、好きな字を書かなければならない。「オーガニック」を書いて選びました。でも、カタカナが下手くそ(笑)。

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On my last night in Soma, we (new Austrian WWOOFers and one of the part time workers) biked down to Haragamaobama Beach after work to see fireworks. ✨🎆 When the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami from March 11, 2011 happened the coastal area surrounding Soma was affected. The waters flooded about 4km inland and caused destruction to many. This beach has been shut down due to various factors such as reconstruction and radiation levels. Since then, 7 years have passed and radiation levels are passed safety checks and construction has finished on the beach. To celebrate, the people of Soma held a long-awaited big summer festival on the beach 😊It felt very humbling to be able to enjoy the opening of the beach again with the citizens of Soma who have persevered through disaster. The atmosphere was lively, happy, and joyful. We were all so happy to be there. I was so happy to be there. 日曜日は相馬で私の最後夜でした。仕事の終わり、皆んな海に行きました。東北関東大震災の後で、海入りは禁止でした。でも、この日は海だ8年ぶりの祭りが行いました。祭りに行って、花火を見られて、本当にうれしかったです。 これは忘れないな思い出です。