Tazawa Lake, Akita (December 31st, Winter Trip Day 2)

Morioka Sta. in the morning...It was cold but there was little snow on the road there.

There are not so many "local" trains running from Morioka to Tazawako, so we had to get up early and took the 5:22 AM train to Tazawako. There was little snow at Morioka, but as the train went closer to the Japan Sea side, there was more and more snow by the tracks.

(Day 2)
Morioka Sta. (5:22 - 6:09) Tazawako Sta. (6:55 - by bus - around 7:15) Tazawakohan BS (around 8:50 - by bus - 9:30) Tsurunoyu Onsen Iriguchi BS (9:30 - on foot - 11:00) Tsurunoyu Hot Spring.


The train to Tazawako.


The JR map around the area.
On 31st we went from Morioka to Tazawako.
On New Year's Day, we planned to stop by my home town, Funagata, which is one stop farther from Shinjo Sta.


Tazawako Sta.
The tourist information center was not even open yet.
We took the bus from there to Tazawa Lake.


Tazawa Lake is the deepest lake in Japan, 423.4 m deep.


The mountains were so beautiful with snow.




The lake looked blue.


We found the area with lots of mistletoe.


Hourai Pine Tree (蓬莱の松) by the lake.


Here is the panorama of the lake.

Morioka, Iwate (December 30th, Winter Trip Day 1)

We traveled once again using the JR Hokkaido & East Japan Pass!

I couldn't make any plan until December 29th, the last day of my work this year. I didn't really expect to get the reservations at any hotels, but I tried calling the hotel in Akita, where I wanted to stay during our summer trip and was turned down then. This time, some kind of miracle happend... We got reservation on New Year's Eve! So, we decided to use the JR Hokkaido & East Japan Pass, which allows you to ride any local trains in those areas for 5 days, and planned to stay at Morioka on 30th. We got up early in the morning on 30th and our winter trip began!

(Day 1)
Musashi-sakai Sta. (4:49 - 5:30) Kanda Sta. (5:35 - 5:40) Ueno Sta. (5:47 - 7:28) Utsunomiya Sta. (7:37 - 8:28) Kuroiso Sta. (8:37 - 9:56) Kooriyama Sta. (10:08 - 10:54) Fukushima Sta. (11:00 - 12:16) Sendai Sta. and we got Bento for lunch (12:45 - 13:30) Kogota Sta. (13:46 - 14:32) Ichinoseki Sta. (14:37 - 16:09) Morioka Sta. and we stayed at Touyoko Inn Hotel near the station.


Mt. Zao from the side of Miyagi prefecture. Near the Shiroishi-Zao Sta. on the way to Sendai.
We saw swans in the rice fields.


A fruit store near the Morioka Sta.
Daniel got 6 apples in a bag for only 100 yen!


Seiroukaku, a Yakiniku restaurant.
We stopped by a barber and had our hair cut after we checked in the hotel.
One of the barber recommended this restaurant to have Morioka's famous Reimen, Korean style cold noodles (冷麺).
The place looked pretty popular.


We asked them to serve the Kimchi separately, so we could add how much you like.
It was really tasty.


We walked outside after taking bath at the hotel.
It seemed Morioka was pretty comfortable place to live.


JaJa-men, another famous noodles in Morioka.
Meat Miso is top on the Udon noodles.


Adding some spices like garlic and ginger, mixing all well and eat...this one tasted good, too.


After eating the noodles, they made egg soup in the bowl. This soup tasted even better.