In February 2019 a teamed up with a long time friend over a long weekend (3 days and 2 nights), which are very common in Japan, to visit the prefecture Aomori. Aomori is the northern most prefecture of Japan on the main island and is famous for getting the most snow in winter. The main objectives were the Hirosaki Snow Lantern Festival and the Lake Towada with the neighbouring mountain Hakkoda.
In fact, the worlds snowiest city is located in Aomori. To get around the prefecture we rented a car for the three days we spent there.
We drove to the city of Tsugaru (つがる市) first to ride a stove train. Basically a normal train where food (usually fish) is sold on the train and the carriages have small stoves where you can roast it on.
We got of in the little village of Kanagi (金木町) to walk around before taking the train back. The village itself is ‘famous’ for being author Dazai Osamu’s birth place.
We took the normal train back. You can tell by the selection of books available to read on the train that it’s one of the more calm and relaxed parts of Japan.
Before heading to Hirosaki we decided to seek out a shrine close to the sea known for its many Torii gates. Especially we were looking for great pictures contrasting the white snow with the bright red gates.
After driving for 45mins we arrived at Takayama Inari Shrine and climbed its many stairs. That actually turned out to be more difficult than anticipated due to thick ice covering each single stair. The sea is very close so the humid air condenses and freezes immediately.
The shrine itself was really beautiful indeed, especially its setting. You have to climb up quite a few stairs up an embankment where you’ll find a shrine. However, that’s not Takayama Inari shrine yet. From there you go down on the other side and arrive at the shrine. It feels like a small basin between the sea and the embankment. I highly recommend to visit if you find yourself in Aomori!
After we arrived in Aomori and checked into our hotel, we headed out right away to Hirosaki Castle to see the Snow Lantern Festival. It was obviously really cold and thick snow flakes continued falling throughout the night, but that set the right atmosphere.
After walking through the gate, you walk through many bends, cross a few ditches before finally arriving at the castle itself.
As neither of us had been to Hirosaki before, we didn’t really know what the actual castle was. Therefore, after seeing yet another outpost, which were impressive by themselves, we were convinced that we had finally arrived at the main castle itself.
To get a better view of the main building, a wooden elevated platform was erected right next to it. However, due to all the compressed snow on it, it was incredibly slippery to walk up the incline and many people fell (without hurting themselves) so people laughed constantly in the background. Great, easy going spirits despite the freezing temperature!
The actual Hirosaki Snow Lantern Festival was a bit further down the hill from the castle’s main building.
It was constructed carefully and beautifully laid out, making you forget the cold for a bit.
Lots of the snow lanterns were painted by local school children and you could see lots of themes from all over Japan on them, such as Mt Fuji, Aomori’s apples and so on.
The paths within the castle vicinity were all lined with snow domes containing little lights for a calm atmosphere.
Upon leaving the castle we recognised the trees along the ditch as the famous Sakura cherry blossom trees in Hirosaki. To highlight them they were lit up with an ever so slight pink hue – a great scene.
If you have any questions concerning visiting Aomori in winter, driving there or the Hirosaki Snow Lantern Festival, drop a line below, I’ll try my best to answer any questions.
You can find more info on the festival here.
Mei says:
Hi. How many days would you recommend for a self driving trip in Aomori somewhere around end of February to early March? It will be still winter and snowing there isn’t it? How is the driving condition at that time? Will there be road closures here and there making self driving tour difficult? What about the Lake Towada Winter Festival? Do you know whether the festival still going on during my time of visit as mentioned?
November 10, 2023 — 22:49
nb says:
Hi Mei!
I would recommend three days on the lower end. It depends a bit on how tight you want to plan things. In general, four or five days is always a bit more relaxed (you can visit some Onsens!). It decreases the chance that you’re stuck in bad weather for the entirety of your trip. The main roads are in fine condition, that means snowy but managable, as they are cleared daily. Some roads might be closed off (we encountered a big one) but there are usually ways to go around the closure.
The winter festival is scheduled for Feburary and may, in some cases spill over into the first March days. Best to check in beginning of 2024 what the exact dates are, but you should be save with Feburary in any case :)
November 13, 2023 — 05:39
Sai Harshitha says:
That seems like a really magical encounter! With its exquisite snow lanterns lighting up the winter nights, the Hirosaki Snow Lantern Festival must be very enchanting. Witnessing this festival on a winter trip to Aomori would be an incredibly unique experience.
June 28, 2024 — 21:00