The second part of our holiday takes us to Japan. We were last in Japan in 2019, the year before Covid. On that trip, we explored the traditional tourist hotspots of Tokyo, Kanazawa and Kyoto, and had a really good time.
For this trip, we wanted to explore less touristy spots and see rural Japan. This plan of ours was inspired by our friends Kate and Carlo who rented a car during their trip to Japan at the end of 2023. We never thought of driving in Japan on our first trip as we visited major cities well supported by the strong train network of Japan. However, we realised that a car opens up a lot of possibilities for us. Hence, our itinerary will take us to the Iwate Prefecture, going as far north as Morioka before heading south through the middle of Honshu island to visit places like Aizu-Wakamatsu, Magome and Takayama before landing in Nagoya for the trip back to Tokyo.
Putting a painfully tedious immigration and airport transfer experience aside, we arrived in Tokyo full of enthusiasm and gusto. On our previous trip, we stuck to familiar and safe food experiences. This time round, Chris was open to new experiences and new flavours. We went to Yakitori bar in Ueno for our first meal and had a fabulous time. We thought it was good start to our time in Japan. However, good intentions like ours are like the best laid plans of mice and men.
My excitement at meandering along our car journey to visit various locations as we head north to Morioka grew in tandem with the north bound train journey through rural Japan. The plan was to pick a rental car at Ichinoseki, our gateway to the Iwate Prefecture. That plan, 10 odd months in the making came to rude head on crash when Toyota car rental refused to hand us a car because, in spite of their rental confirmation by email, they do not recognise New Zealand driver's license. 30-45 mins of polite debate and a calls to their head office and the local police resulted in a big fat No.
And with that, our plans needed a major revision, a complete overhaul. In the middle of almost nowhere, we found a ATM, withdrew cash, navigated to a café and replanned our trip.
The new plan:
Visit the Onsen in Hanamaki as planned - there is a free shuttle from another train station further north that we could hop on.
Morioka is still possible because it is at the end of the train line we're on.
Cancel all bookings for Matsumoto, Kiso Valley and Takayama. Those places are not possible without a car based on our current circumstance.
Extend our stay at Aizu-Wakamatsu and Nagoya. These place are accessible using the train network we're on. Aizu-Wakamatsu is relatively small and walkable while Nagoya is serviced by an extensive local bus and train infrastructure.
And so, our journey continues. I’ll post more about Iwate Prefecture (Hanamaki + Morioka), Aizu-Wakamatsu and Nagoya in upcoming posts.
A few shots on the morning before we head north from Tokyo.
Ueno Train Station
