Sightseeing in Aomori: Where Jomon Earth Meets the Harbor Wind

What Kind of City Is Aomori?

Aomori is the capital of Aomori Prefecture, spread across the Aomori Plain cradled by Mutsu Bay. With the sea to the north and the Hakkoda mountains to the southeast, the city holds both seafood and mountain scenery within its limits. It began its life as a port town in the Kan’ei era of the Edo period, flourished as a commercial port of the Hirosaki domain, adopted city status in the Meiji era, and in 2005 welcomed Namioka Town to the southwest to reach its present size.

This article introduces the city’s sights from north to south, in descending order of latitude. We begin at the steaming hot-spring town of Asamushi, then move down through memories of the harbor, a great Jomon settlement and a medieval castle, to the wetlands and gorge on the slopes of the Hakkoda mountains. Along with the tourist face of each place, please take in the time that the land has passed through.

1. Asamushi Onsen and Yushima Island (浅虫温泉と湯の島)

Asamushi Onsen is a hot-spring town at the base of the Natsudomari Peninsula, which juts out into Mutsu Bay. Mountains rise behind it, and a small island floats just offshore. Legends of its discovery credit Jikaku Daishi (Ennin) or Engo Daishi (Honen). There are several theories about the origin of the name, but because it was once written “麻蒸” (asa-mushi, “hemp steaming”), the view that it comes from the local work of steaming hemp in the hot water to extract its fibers is regarded as the strongest.

The town is also closely connected with Munakata Shiko, the woodblock print artist from Aomori City. His print “Utou,” depicting Utou-zaki at Asamushi, won a special selection at the 1938 Teiten exhibition, and he is said to have stayed in Asamushi for long periods almost every year, except during the Pacific War. That an artist kept coming back to a seaside hot-spring town seems to speak for the calm of its atmosphere.

On Yushima Island, which floats offshore, colonies of dogtooth violet spread in spring, and seasonal events give visitors a chance to cross to the island. The town has the prefecture-run Asamushi Aquarium, opened in 1983, and Tohoku University’s marine laboratory (established in 1924) continues today as a research center, so it also has the face of a town of research. This is our own speculation, but the gathering of hot springs, sea and scholarship in one small inlet may be proof that the calm waters of Mutsu Bay have long held people there.

2. Aomori Seikan Ferry Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru (青函連絡船メモリアルシップ八甲田丸)

Hakkoda Maru is a Seikan ferry preserved and moored in Aomori Port. The ferry service began in 1908 and kept carrying people and cargo between Aomori and Hakodate until the age of the Seikan Tunnel brought it to an end in 1988. Hakkoda Maru itself entered service in 1964, was refitted after being retired, and has been open to the public as a memorial museum since 1990.

On the vehicle deck inside, you can see railcars that ran as limited expresses in Hokkaido, a mail car, and the buffer cars used to load and unload rolling stock. You can experience a form of transport that is hard to imagine today, in which trains drove straight aboard a ship. The engine room below deck can also be toured, and the weight of the time that iron machinery spent carrying people across the sea comes through.

It is said that the ginger-miso oden of Aomori began when a stall in front of Aomori Station added ginger miso to oden to warm people waiting for the ferry or trains, a story that suits a town of harbor and station. Also, in the air raids of July 14 and 15, 1945, the Seikan ferries suffered heavy damage and many lives were lost. As you look up at the ship, it is worth quietly remembering that this memory lies beneath the tourist scenery.

3. Gappo Park (合浦公園)

Gappo Park (合浦公園) is a municipal urban park spread along Mutsu Bay in the eastern part of Aomori. Completed in 1894 (Meiji 27), it is a historic park donated to the city by the brothers Mizuhara Eisaku and Kakizaki Mijuro, who had invested their own funds in its creation. In summer the beach opens as a swimming area, and the rest of the time the park blends into residents’ lives as a place for walks and flower viewing.

About 30 stone monuments are scattered through the park, including a poem monument to Ishikawa Takuboku. As you wander among them, imagining what Takuboku saw on the northern seashore, you notice that the park is not just green space but a place where memories carved into the land are kept. Old pines said to be over 460 years old also stand here, and thinking that they may have stood on this beach even before the harbor town was founded makes your steps slow naturally.

It has none of the flash of a tourist attraction, but it is a place where you can quietly see how the people of Aomori have lived with the sea. The wide beach and big sky are a view particular to a harbor town, different from the castle town of Hirosaki.

4. Nebuta Museum WA RASSE (ねぶたの家 ワ・ラッセ)

Nebuta Museum WA RASSE, which opened in January 2011, is a cultural and tourist exchange facility in Aomori that presents exhibits on the Nebuta Festival. It stands in a corner of the waterfront on the east side of Aomori Station, and is the city’s gateway for visitors, a place to experience the power of the giant lanterns up close even outside the festival period.

The Aomori Nebuta Festival is a summer festival held every year in early August, and it was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1980. As for its origin, a theory widely accepted holds that the Tanabata “Nemuri-nagashi” (floating away drowsiness) was joined with the Buddhist custom of floating lanterns. If you think of a simple wish to wash drowsiness and impurities away in the water and get through the summer growing into a festival of giant lanterns painted with warrior pictures and of leaping dancers, the prayer at the root of that heat comes into view.

Here you can see the force of the large nebuta that have finished their runs and learn how a frame, washi paper and light come together. Hands-on and learning events are also offered, and the fun unique to this facility is that you can move a step closer to the makers instead of just looking.

5. Sannai-Maruyama Site (三内丸山遺跡)

The Sannai-Maruyama Site is the remains of a large settlement that thrived from about 5,900 to 4,200 years ago, from the early to middle Jomon period. It covers about 40 hectares, and in 2021 it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site as one of the “Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.”

The trigger for excavation was a survey that began in 1992 ahead of the construction of a prefectural baseball stadium. When remains of huge buildings were found in 1994, the prefecture canceled the stadium and decided to preserve the site. The way a planned development site became a place that rewrote Japan’s view of the Jomon is part of the site’s larger story.

The reconstructed large six-post building on embedded posts uses chestnut pillars about one meter in diameter, and the evenly spaced, equally deep postholes suggest how precise the surveying of the time was. DNA analysis suggests that chestnuts may have been cultivated, and goods from far away such as jade, obsidian and amber have also been found, showing that a broad network of exchange was in place. It is a place where you can feel that the Jomon people lived lives that were more than simple hunting and gathering.

6. Aomori Museum of Art (青森県立美術館)

The Aomori Museum of Art opened on July 13, 2006, and was designed by the architect Jun Aoki. Its form, which combines earthen walls recalling excavation trenches with white structures, was made to resonate with the neighboring Sannai-Maruyama excavation site. The building itself acts like a bridge between Jomon earth and contemporary art.

In the Aleko Hall inside, three huge backdrop paintings by Marc Chagall for the ballet “Aleko” are on display. Each is 9 meters tall and 15 meters wide, and as you look up and imagine the stage, the paintings seem to expand to fill the space. The “Aomori Dog” (Aomori-ken), about 8.5 meters tall, by Aomori native Yoshitomo Nara is also a symbol of this museum.

Munakata Shiko, born in Aomori City, had a memorial museum in the same city, but it closed on March 31, 2024, and under an agreement with the prefecture the works it held were taken in by this museum. This makes the museum the first place to turn to when you want to see Shiko’s woodblock prints. That everything from the Jomon to contemporary art to a great local master gathers on one hill shows the depth of this city.

7. Namioka Castle Ruins (浪岡城跡)

The Namioka Castle Ruins are a medieval castle site in the former town of Namioka, which merged with Aomori City in 2005. It is said to have been built by Kitabatake Akiyoshi, the fourth head of the Namioka Kitabatake clan, in the late 15th century, with the Onin era the leading theory. In 1940 it became the first nationally designated Historic Site in Aomori Prefecture.

It measured about 1,200 meters east to west and 600 meters north to south, made up of eight compounds separated by double moats 10 to 30 meters wide. It may seem surprising that such a large castle was built in medieval northern Japan, but it also proves how much power the Namioka Kitabatake clan held in the northern Ou region at the time. The castle fell in 1578 to an attack by Tsugaru Tamenobu.

Today the earthworks and moat remains are preserved, and a facility displaying excavated items has been built. Even though it looks like an empty grassy field, you can imagine the tension of the defenders from the depth and curve of the moats. In this site’s view, the best flavor of these ruins is how the rise and fall of power lies layered under quiet greenery.

8. Kenashidai (毛無岱)

Kenashidai is a large wetland on the middle slopes of Mount Hakkoda, in Arakawa, Aomori City. It spreads in two tiers, upper and lower Kenashidai, surrounded by the deep forests of Hakkoda. The wetland formed when water collected on a flat terrain created by lava flows from Mount Odake, and its origin is described as the same as that of Midagahara on Mount Tateyama.

In summer, cottongrass and Japanese asphodel (kinkoka) bloom, and autumn grass coloring (kusa-momiji) is said to peak from late September to early October. The scene of the meadow turning from gold to reddish tones seems like a signal announcing the mountain’s short autumn.

This is a high-moor wetland resting on volcanic terrain and holding water from heavy snow. Because it is a land that receives huge amounts of snow in winter, the wetland keeps its moisture. Hakkoda is a harsh mountain, but you can feel that this harshness is what nurtures such rich scenery.

9. Jogakura Bridge (城ヶ倉大橋)

Jogakura Bridge is a deck-type arch bridge spanning the Jogakura Gorge. It is 360 meters long and about 122 meters above the valley floor, one of the largest deck-type arch bridges in Japan. It opened in October 1995 and forms part of a road that passes through the Hakkoda mountains.

The gorge beneath the bridge is characterized by columnar jointing, where rock formed by volcanic activity rises like pillars. Beech, oak, maple, Erman’s birch and other trees are said to reach peak autumn color around mid-October each year. From the bridge, a sea of foliage seems to pour down into the valley.

Around the bridge, views of the Hakkoda range and Mount Iwaki are also said to be enjoyed. This is our own speculation, but the reason the bridge is so popular may be not only the thrill of its height but also that the harshness of the mountains and human engineering appear to fit into the same scene. Mountain roads can be affected by winter snow and weather, so please check road conditions for each season in advance.

Local Specialties: Food and Drink

One thing that cannot be left out when talking about food in Aomori is the scallops of Mutsu Bay. The calm, nutrient-rich sea has supported scallop farming. Besides sashimi and grilled dishes, simple dishes in which scallop shells serve as the pan for grilling with miso also hold the life of a fishing town.

The residents’ soul foods are ginger-miso oden and miso curry milk ramen. Ginger-miso oden is said to have started after the war when the proprietress of a stall in front of Aomori Station poured miso with grated ginger over oden to warm people waiting for the Seikan ferry or trains. The sauce, which combines Tsugaru miso with sake, mirin and dashi, suits a cold harbor-town night.

Apples, grown mainly around the former town of Namioka, are also representative of the taste of Tsugaru. That ingredients such as miso sauce and apples have taken root in daily life says much about the food culture of this snowy land.

Rare Wildlife and Nature

The whole of Aomori is designated a special heavy snowfall area, and its normal annual snowfall is 567 centimeters. For a city of its population size this is considered among the snowiest in the world. At Sukayu Onsen on the slopes of Hakkoda, a snow depth of 566 centimeters was recorded in February 2013.

The wetlands and gorges of Hakkoda are nature raised by volcanoes and snow. In the Kenashidai wetland you can see cottongrass and Japanese asphodel flowers. On Asamushi’s Yushima Island, dogtooth violet colonies color the spring, and it is also known as an island where the great purple emperor butterfly (Oomurasaki) lives. Note that Tsubakiyama, known as the northern limit of wild camellia, is on the neighboring Hiranai Town side of the same Natsudomari Peninsula.

Other Notable Things About This City

Aomori adopted city status in 1898 as a harbor town. As the gateway between Honshu and Hokkaido linked by the Seikan ferries, it was a town through which people and goods passed. Even after the ferries were discontinued in 1988, memories of being a stopover on journeys remain around the harbor and the station.

In 2005 it merged with Namioka Town, adding the Namioka Castle Ruins, which tell of Tsugaru’s medieval history, and an apple-growing region to the city. It moved to core city status in October 2006. Behind the expansion lay the history and lives that each of the lands had built up.

The Nebuta Festival in early August each year defines the summer of this town. The contrast of seasons, with heavy winter snow and the explosive heat of the summer festival, seems to shape the character of Aomori.

The Night Side: Ghost Stories and Haunted Spots of This City

So far we have walked Aomori’s daytime face: a Jomon settlement, a medieval castle, memories of the harbor and snowy mountains. Each place layers the time of people who lived there, prayed there, and sometimes paid a great sacrifice.

That depth connects to the night side as well. Aomori has urban legends that are often told, but their locations are not specified and we do not recommend searching for them. In this site’s view, a ghost story is something like a shadow that a land’s history and terrain have cast on people’s minds. The more you learn about the history of a harbor wounded by war and mountains that refused people with snow, the deeper your respect for quiet places becomes.

At KARASU CHANNEL, we present true ghost stories and haunted spots not so that you can visit them but so that they are recorded. After getting to know the daytime scenery, please read the night stories too.

Before You Go

Opening hours, fees, closing days and access change easily, so they are not included in this article. Before you go, please check the latest information on the official website of each facility or local government. Some places may be restricted from entry because of weather or disasters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. In what order is it efficient to see Aomori’s sights?

A. This article introduces them from north to south. Grouping by area makes it easier: around the harbor in the city center, around the Sannai-Maruyama Site, toward Hakkoda, and toward Asamushi. Because of the distances, please check your means of travel and seasonal road conditions with each local government or the official tourist guide.

Q. What is Aomori’s specialty food?

A. Mutsu Bay scallops, ginger-miso oden, miso curry milk ramen and Namioka apples are well known. Offerings differ from shop to shop, so please check the latest information before you go.

Q. Is it all right to visit in winter?

A. Aomori is a special heavy snowfall area, with a lot of snow. The Hakkoda area may be unreachable at times because of snow cover or road closures, so please check official road information and the weather and plan sensibly.

Official sites and references consulted
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/青森市
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/三内丸山遺跡
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/青森県立美術館
https://www.pref.aomori.lg.jp/soshiki/kankyo/shizen/kouen_asamushi.html
https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/daijinkanbou/sensai/virtual/memorialsite/aomori_aomori_city001/index.html
https://tabi-mag.jp/ao0010/
https://www.city.aomori.aomori.jp/_res/projects/default_project/_page_/001/009/900/04_p4_tokushu2_oden.pdf
https://www.aomori-museum.jp/ja/about/
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/浪岡城
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/棟方志功記念館