Photo: https://search.find47.jp/ja/i/unXp4 / CC BY 4.0
The visitorsOn New Year's Eve, men in demon masks enter your house and interrogate your children
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The festivalA twelve-metre pole hung with forty-six lanterns, balanced on one man's forehead
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The brewingThe north brews slower because it is colder, and slower is better
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The dogHachiko was one, the breed nearly died twice, and Akita still gives them away to heads of state
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The townA samurai street of black wooden walls and weeping cherries, an hour inland
Read the story →Cruise seasons run spring to autumn, but the port changes underneath them.
Kakunodate's weeping cherries open in late April — among the last in Japan.
Comfortable walking, long daylight, and no crowds anywhere.
Tohoku's rainy season is milder than the south's. Good for Kakunodate.
Practice for Kanto starts in the neighbourhoods through the month.
The reason to plan a year ahead. Hot, humid, and 250 lantern poles.
New rice, hatahata coming, and the clearest light of the year.
The best month for Kakunodate and Lake Tazawa together.
Breweries begin the season. Hatahata fishing peaks.
Cruise ships gone. The Sedo Matsuri fire festival is the February event.
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