Aomori

Nebuta floats, Jomon huts and a night in Honcho

Central Aomori fits into a day: start at Nebuta House Wa Rasse beside Aomori Station to see prize-winning festival floats, walk the waterfront to the Hakkoda-maru train-ferry museum and the ASPAM observation deck, then build a nokkedon seafood bowl at the Furukawa fish market for lunch. The Jomon site and art museum fill the afternoon.

For lunch, go to the Furukawa fish market, the Aomori Gyosai Center, and make a nokkedon: buy tickets, get a bowl of rice and swap the tickets for toppings at the stalls.

In the afternoon, ride the Nebutan-go bus to the Aomori Museum of Art, a white building sunk into the ground, home to Yoshitomo Nara's huge Aomori Dog and works by Shiko Munakata, the local woodblock master. Next door, the Sannai-Maruyama site shows a Jomon settlement around 5,000 years old, with a reconstructed six-pillar tower and pit dwellings.

Return downtown for the evening and walk Shinmachi toward Honcho, the drinking quarter, for local sake and grilled scallops. On a second day, take the JR bus to the Hakkoda ropeway, soak at Sukayu Onsen, and continue in season to Oirase Gorge.

Scallops, apple cider and miso curry milk ramen

Eat Aomori's three staples: apples, as the prefecture grows more than any other in Japan, Takko garlic and Mutsu Bay scallops. Scallops come raw, grilled in the shell or in kaiyaki miso, a scallop-shell hotpot. Build a nokkedon bowl at the Furukawa fish market, open mornings and closed Tuesdays, and buy apple cidre at A-FACTORY.

Scallops, hotate, are eaten raw as sashimi, grilled in the shell and in kaiyaki miso, a scallop-shell hotpot of egg, miso and scallop that is a classic Tsugaru home dish. The Furukawa fish market near the station is the place for a nokkedon, your own seafood rice bowl assembled from different stalls; it is open in the morning and closes on Tuesdays. The A-FACTORY building by the bay bridge makes and sells apple cidre and has a food hall.

The city's oddest contribution is miso curry milk ramen, a bowl with miso, curry and milk in the broth, often topped with butter and bean sprouts. It started in local ramen shops in the 1970s and has become a point of civic pride.

To drink, look for Denshu, a highly regarded local sake served in izakaya and sushi bars, and for cider and apple juice in the station shops. The Honcho district, about 15 minutes' walk from the station, has most of the bars; the Hakkoda-maru deck turns into a beer garden on summer nights.

Nebuta week, snow monsters and Hakkoda in autumn

Time a visit for the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri, 2 to 7 August, when illuminated warrior floats parade at night with haneto dancers, and anyone in costume can join; on the last day the floats sail on the bay with fireworks. Autumn colour peaks in October in Hakkoda, Oirase Gorge and Lake Towada, with highs near 18°C.

Autumn is the connoisseur's season. By October highs fall to about 18C, and the beech forests of Hakkoda, Oirase Gorge and Lake Towada turn red and gold, an easy JR bus ride from the station.

Winter is long and snowy, with precipitation between 99 and 155 mm a month from November to February and highs of 2 to 5C. The Hakkoda ropeway carries skiers to deep powder, and trees around the summit become rime-coated snow monsters. Sukayu Onsen, at the foot of the range, draws bathers to its large cypress bath.

Spring is short. Cherry blossom arrives in late April, and the famous viewing spot is Hirosaki Castle park, under an hour away by train. Many travellers also combine Aomori with Hakodate by Shinkansen or ferry, or with Tokyo at the far end of the Tohoku line.