'''Akita prefecture''' (_H_c__ ''Akita-ken'') is in the northeastern Tohoku region of the main Japanese island Honshu.

Understand

Akita is the original home of the '''Akita dog''' (''Akita inu''), the famously loyal dog of Hachiko fame.

Cities

  • Akita - the prefectural capital
  • Kakunodate - preserved town with samurai houses
  • Odate - hometown of Hachiko
  • Ugo
  • Towns

  • Ugo
  • Other destinations

  • Nyuto Onsen - One of Japan's popular hot spring resort.
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    Get in

    By plane

    By train

  • The '''Akita Shinkansen''' provides hourly service from Tokyo station to Akita station. Trains are all-reserved and are known as ''Komachi'' (______) trains. The trains only stop at Ueno, Omiya, Sendai, Morioka, and Shizukuishi before slowing down to travel to Tazawako, Kakunodate, Omagari, and finally Akita over conventional rail lines. Trains also reverse direction once at Omagari, the stop before Akita. Komachi trains from Tokyo reach Akita in four hours and cost 16,810yen each way. Beware that the Komachi trains are coupled to Hachinohe-bound Hayate trains, which split at Morioka, but as all seats are reserved the chance of getting in the wrong car is minimal at best. '''Japan Rail Pass is accepted.'''
  • The ''Akebono'' overnight sleeper train from Tokyo's Ueno station, and the ''Nihonkai'' # 1 and # 3 from Osaka and Kyoto, stop in Akita before terminating in Aomori.
  • By bus

  • JR Tohoku Bus operates a long distance bus '''Dream Akita/Yokohama Express''' from Tokyo and Yokohama. It leaves daily from Tokyo station southern Yaesu exit at 21:50 (20:55 from Yokohama station east bus terminal), and arrive Akita station at 6:35am in the following day. 9,100yen single (9,500yen from Yokohama).
  • Odakyu Bus also runs an overnight bus service, '''the Flora''', from Shinjuku to Akita. Two departures each night (8-9 hours, 9,450yen one-way).
  • Get around

    See

    Do

    Eat

    Akita's weather and clean water are said to be ideal for growing rice, and the local ''komachi'' variety is sought after throughout the country.

    Perhaps the most well-known Akita dish is ''kiritanpo''. Kiritanpo is essentially a tube made of rice, generally formed around a disposable chopstick. It is often roasted, sometimes after being smothered in miso paste. It is also eaten in ''kiritanpo nabe'', a stew of sliced kiritanpo, vegetables, and chicken or fish, most commonly eaten during the winter.

    Though consumed throughout Japan, Akita's Oga Peninsula is known for ''inago'', a sweet teriyaki-like dish made of grasshoppers cooked in sake, soy sauce, and sugar.

    In late winter, ''hata hata'', or sailfin sunfish is popular, usually cooked in a stew. It has a strong flavor, and females with intact egg pouches are most prized.

    Drink

    Akita's famed komachi rice is used to brew many different varieties of sake, some of which are popular throughout Japan. Many of Akita's towns have a local sake brewery, some of which offer tours.

    On the outskirts of Kakunodate is the Tazawako Brewery. This microbrewery brews a handful of craft beers, and contains a restaurant with all the brewery's beers on tap.

    Get out

  • Aomori Prefecture
  • Iwate Prefecture
  • Yamagata Prefecture
  • Miyagi Prefecture