Attendees of the Summer Olympics in 2020, might well want to flee humid, crowded and expensive Tokyo after the games to explore other parts of Japan. Tohoku region in the northeast, an easy bullet train ride away, is the perfect escape. Just 1.5% of the 31 million tourists who visited Japan in the last year went there. Yet it has much to offer.
It’s a four season destination with spring cherry blossoms, summer festivals, colourful fall foliage and winter skiing. There are hot springs to enjoy, samurai villages to visit, beaches to chill on and mountains to climb. It also has great local cuisine and drinks.
After a 90 minute train ride to Sendai, the largest city in the region, my first stop was for lunch at Akiusha, a 160-year-old house remade into an elegant local-food restaurant, about 30 minutes from central Sendai in the Miyagi Prefecture. The food is centered around organic vegetables from nearby farms as well as local chicken and pork. Their vegetable shabu-shabu (thinly sliced vegetables that you boil briefly in water) served with dipping sauces was so fresh and delicious.
About five minutes away was Akiu Winery, owned by Seattle born Mohri Chikafusa. He first planted grapes in 2013 and told me he is learning which grapes grow best in the area. Along with European vinifera varietals such as merlot, gewürztraminer and riesling, he has the Japanese hybrid white varietal koshu and makes a cider from local apples. You can sample wines, buy by the bottle at his winery or sit down with a plate of otsumami (snacks), which include local cheeses and meats.
“We want to promote Miyagi products by attracting more people to the area through tourism,” said Mr. Chikafusa. His current project is the creation of a tour to local wineries, sake producers, breweries and perhaps also to Nikka Whisky Distillery (about 30 minutes from the Akiu area). Canadian musician Blaise Plant of the pop-rock band Monkey Majik, who has pinot noir vineyards nearby, is in on the plan.
Jessica Hallams, Tour Development Director of In-outbound Sendai Matsushima, is already onto this. Her company offers “Tohoku Local Secrets” tours and coordinates tourism projects that encompass a six-city, three-town area of the cities of Sendai, Shiogama, Natori, Tagajo, Iwanuma, and Higashi-Matsushima, and the towns of Matsushima, Shichigahama, and Rifu.
Through her company I enjoyed an izakaya (bars where inexpensive food is served) hopping tour of the narrow alleyways off the Sun Mall. The small, crowded and lively area, Iroha, was packed with tiny bar/restaurants. Its beginnings were in 1946 with past war vendors and you feel like you’ve stepped back in time once you enter the alleys. My group started at Ishikawa, a yakitori place where we had delicious grilled skewers of chicken hearts, chicken liver, chicken skin, chicken and onion and pork.
At the Rocco oyster bar we had a feast of fresh and steamed oysters, sea squirt (an acquired taste I’d say), served with boiled potatoes, cucumber and miso. At Nanbu Iroha we had hot meat and vegetables from the odon (one-pot) and a couple of appetizers served with sake from the neighboring Iwate Prefecture. https://www.tohoku-local-secret-tours.jp/
Of course, I had to visit Nikka Miyagikyo Distillery. Its spirits are famous and I had already enjoyed them in Canada as the LCBO and other provincial liquor boards carry a number of Nikka’s products. Opened in 1969, this is the second distillery by Nikka. (The first to open was the Yoichi distillery in Hokkaido.) It’s nestled in a forest surrounded by mountains and a most attractive place to walk about. The standard one hour tour finishes with a tasting of just a few products but you can pay for more, rarer tasting options, which I did. https://www.nikka.com/eng/distilleries/miyagikyo/
Another of the tours I did lead by Ms. Hallam, was “Oyster Paradise Matsushima”. Matsushima Bay, one of Japan’s top three scenic views, has 300 islands and some of the country’s best oysters. The entire coastline of Miyagi Prefecture is famous for its high quality, giant, juicy oysters, but the pearly heart of the action lies in the Bay. Its locally grown oyster ‘babies’ are shipped throughout Japan and the world for cultivation.
I got to try them on the spot on the boat of oyster farmer, Suzuki, who was one of about 38 commercial farmers in the Bay. After trying them plucked fresh from the cold ocean waters, my group was taken to a local oyster shack to continue the feast with all-you-can eat steamed oysters, oyster rice and oyster soup. You had to love oysters, and I do.
In the town of Matsushima I visited a museum dedicated to Date Masamune, founder of Sendai City and one of the most powerful rulers of Japan’s Sengoku period (1467-1568 CE), also known as the Warring States Period. It was fascinating to learn about this famous warlord whose military outfit was the inspiration for the Darth Vader character in Star Wars.
The next day after a half hour train to Koriyama, I visited the Aizu Samurai Residence – for more delving into Japan’s warrior past. Then a lunch of wappa-meshi at Takino, in a 250 year old building used during the Edo period, fortified me for my next destination. Wappa-meshi is steamed rice with a variety of toppings, served in a bowl made from a thin sheet of curved wood. My version came with ginseng tempura, fish and other goodies.
I spent the afternoon at Suehiro Sake Brewery in Aizu, one of Tohoku area’s most famous sake breweries, established in 1850 and run by the seventh generation Inokichi Shinjo. It was housed in a 120 year old building that once also served as the family home. Our tour lead by the owner included a walk through the brewing areas, explanations of the sake making process and a visit of the small museum with displays of the brewery’s history and the rooms where the family once lived. It ended at the factory store with a tasting bar where we could sample the goods and buy their products. http://sakeinternational.org/suehiro-sake-brewery/
My visit to the Tohoku area immersed me in the culture, the past and the consumables of Japan. As a travel experience it felt so authentic. The summer Olympics in Tokyo will be surreal. This area is the ideal the antidote to all that.