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• Understand
• Get around
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• See & Do
• Eat & Drink
• Contact

Kappa-no-yu hot springs, Yagen Valley

The Shimokita Peninsula (下北半島 Shimokita-hantō) is the remote northeastern cape of the Japanese island of Honshu, stretching out towards Hokkaido.

[edit] Cities

• Mutsu — the drab concrete-laden capital
• Oma — port for Hokkaido
• Ohata — fishing village on the way to Yagen Valley
• Sai — mountain village that has rock formations called "Hotokegaura", said to resemble Buddha.

[edit] Other destinations

• Mount Osore — in Japanese folklore, the entrance to Hell
• Yagen Valley — scenic and almost uninhabited

[edit] Understand

Map of the Shimokita Peninsula

Shaped like an axe pointing west, the peninsula has a thin "axe handle" connecting the mountainous "axe blade" to mainland. The coasts maintain a thin scattering of population but the interior is as remote a region as you can find in Japan. The largest population center is the drab town of Mutsu.

[edit] Get in

No matter how you look at it, Shimokita is a long way from anywhere.

[edit] By air

The closest airports are in Misawa and Aomori; from there you'll have to take a train or bus. Misawa has direct service to Tokyo and Osaka; Aomori also has direct service to Nagoya and Fukuoka.

[edit] By ferry

Higashi-Nihon Ferry [1] offers service from Hakodate on Hokkaido to Oma at the northwestern tip of the peninsula. There are between two and four services per day, depending on the season. Drivers and bikers are encouraged to make reservations in advance, especially in high season.

Shimokita Kisen [2] offers service from Wakinosawa to Kanita, crossing Mutsu Bay.

[edit] By train

The JR Ominato Line from Noheji (on the Tohoku main line) travels up the axe handle to Mutsu. Direct Shimokita rapid service trains are available from Aomori and Hachinohe (the latter being the northern terminus of the Tohoku Shinkansen line from Tokyo). The private Shimokita Kotsu Railway stopped running in 2001.

[edit] By bus

Direct buses run from Tokyo to Mutsu, taking over 10 hours in the process.

[edit] Get around

Most tourists in the area either bring or rent cars. Getting around without your own set of wheels is not easy, especially off-season.

Intermittent buses do connect the main towns. If you travel by bus, be sure to pick up an Aomori Card (available to passport-showing foreigners only) in either Aomori or Mutsu's tourist office for 50% discounts on travel.

The other (often faster) option is hitchhiking. Be prepared for long waits, though, as many roads on the peninsula are very lightly trafficked, even in high season.

On the west side of the peninsula, ferries run between Wakinosawa, Sai and several points in between.

[edit] Talk

Shimokitans have their own dialect of Japanese, known as Shimokita-ben (下北弁), which keeps linguists and other visitors scratching their heads at times. Some typical Shimokitan words and phrases include:

Standard Japanese is, however, widely spoken.

[edit] See & Do

• Yagen Valley is one of the most beautiful mountain valleys in all Japan, featuring free hot springs and campgrounds.

• Mount Osore is the mythical Japanese entrance to hell, a desolate wasteland of sulphuric springs.

[edit] Eat & Drink

The local speciality is squid, particular squid ink ramen noodles.

[edit] Contact

Mutsu's tourism office is very helpful to the few foreigners who make it to this neck of the woods, although English ability and material is limited.

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