What's worth seeing on Honshu, between Tokyo and Sendai?

February 16, 2007 11:39 PM

JapanFilter: What's worth seeing on Honshu, between Tokyo and Sendai?

Can you recommend any destinations in this area for a 25 year old male non-Japanese speaking tourist without a car? I'm already aware of Nikko and Matsushima bay outside Sendai. I have the Let's Go guide to Japan, but its coverage of this area is dotty, and a personal recommendation always trumps the book!

Non-interests include monasteries, hikes, and places where a shrine/temple is the only attraction. The time target is late February. I do like Onsens!

Thanks!

posted by graytona to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

Not between Sendai and Tokyo, but if you are going up to Sendai you might enjoy a side trip to Naruko. It's an onsen town but there is also a gorge you can walk through as well as a volcanic lake.
posted by cwhitfcd at 4:13 AM on February 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

You could try hiking up Mt. Bandai, but it'll be freezing in February, I'm afraid. The nearby Aizu-Wakamatsu has some interesting features.

One of Japan's three most beautiful gardens, Kairaku-en, is in Mito.
posted by armage at 5:59 AM on February 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

The best, best, best place I ever went in Japan (and I lived there for ten years) was a place called Hiraizumi, in Iwate, less than an hour north of Sendai by Shinkansen. It's got good walking, and is close to several hot springs. Some really interesting architecture and landscape gardens are left over from nearly 1000 years ago. There are a number of resorts at the base of Kurikoma National Park.

Second the Aizu-Wakamatsu recommendation, by the way.

Basically, if you're in Miyagi, you can never go wrong by taking a local trainline west into the mountains, where there will usually be small hot springs (if you're into nude bathing).

The Boso Peninsula in Chiba (that's where the airport is) is also pretty nice. Kamogawa is a nice town.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:39 AM on February 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's Japan. Get on a train and pick a direction. You'll find shrines and other really interesting things anywhere you go.

Ditch the tourist book. Nikko is nice, but it's really tourist-y..
posted by drstein at 10:13 PM on February 18, 2007