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Public Transport-Only Tōhoku-to-Otaru Road Trip from Aichi (Part 1 – The Start)

“I’ve never been to Tōhoku, so let’s go!”

In my first summer working full-time in Japan, I decided to use a national holiday break to visit “Tōhoku,” a region in northeastern Japan.

I’d already visited most prefectures except Tōhoku, so it just felt right to head there next.“Then this time, I’ll go using only public transport!”—and that’s exactly how I planned the trip.

Since I lived with my parents and commuted by train, I had zero confidence in driving.
Back in my student days, I was the type who conquered travel using cheap train passes like the “Seishun 18 Ticket” (a special seasonal pass for unlimited train rides).
So I thought, “Why not go all public transport this time too?” and got right into planning the trip.

My sister suddenly said, “Can I come too?”

My solo trips are usually pretty chaotic.
Since I’m traveling alone, I take full advantage—starting super early in the morning.
I’m the kind of person who can ride trains forever, so spending 7+ hours on a train is totally normal for me.
I’ve also driven cars plenty of times, usually with a rice ball in one hand!

While I was planning a trip to Tohoku (northern Japan), my little sister—who was a college student at the time—suddenly chimed in.

sister

I’m free too—can I tag along?

me

It’s a crazy early start, I hate crowds, and we’ll be on trains forever.

sister

I’m totally fine with that!

And just like that, our relaxed little adventure began.

All on public transport—no cars involved!

We used Instagram, Google Maps, and this travel guide to piece together a 7-night, 8-day route using only trains and buses.

schedule

Here’s the rough schedule I’ve put together so far…

※They skipped Fukushima and Miyagi since they planned to visit them later.

They admit it was a kinda crazy route lol

I’ll be writing more detailed posts about each place I visited in upcoming articles (^^)/
Stay tuned!