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Akita
18 places
Holidays in Japan? Plan them with us.Over 2,000 real places, a day-by-day itinerary.FreeOpen the map →- Akita City Market (秋田市民市場) Each shop opens when it likes, between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning, a short walk from the station.
- Akita Folk Arts Museum (Neburi Nagashi-kan) Here you can touch a real kantō: 12 metres, 46 lanterns, 50 kilos balanced on one hand.
- Akita Kantō Matsuri (秋田竿燈まつり) The largest pole weighs 50 kg, is 12 m tall and carries 46 lanterns: balanced on a single hand.
- Akita Prefectural Museum of Art (秋田県立美術館) In Andō Tadao's hall there is a 20-metre-long painting by Foujita: ‘The Events of Akita’.
- Dakigaeri Gorge Ten kilometres of gorge leading to the ‘looking-back’ waterfall, 30 metres high.
- Kakunodate Samurai District (角館武家屋敷) 162 weeping willows are a national monument: they came from Kyoto, in a bridal trousseau, 360 years ago.
- Kawabata (川反) Born of the fire of 1887, it is the second nightlife district in Tōhoku after Sendai.
- Kubota Castle (久保田城跡・千秋公園) The Satake castle never had a keep or stone walls: only earthworks, because of the Tokugawa.
- Lake Tazawa (田沢湖) The deepest lake in Japan, 423.4 m: on the shore stands the golden statue of Tatsuko.
- Namahage — Oga Shinzan Denshōkan (男鹿真山伝承館) The masked figures shout ‘aren't there any lazy children?’: the rite has been UNESCO heritage since 2018.
- Oga Aquarium GAO Akita's only aquarium: 400 species, and Gōta the polar bear has been swimming in front of visitors since 2004.
- Ōmagari Hanabi — National Fireworks Competition (全国花火競技大会「大曲の花火」) 750,000 spectators, 18,000 fireworks, 28 companies: the Prime Minister's Prize since 1910.
- Port Tower Selion 143 metres of glass over the port: 6,272 panels, and the view reaches as far as Mount Chōkai.
- Shirakami-Sanchi, Akita side (白神山地 秋田県側) UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993: the Fujisato centre tells the story of 8,000 years of forest, free of charge.
- Shrine of Our Lady of Akita She wept 101 times between 1975 and 1981: the tears, once analysed, were human fluid.
- Tsurunoyu Onsen (鶴の湯温泉) The lord of the domain came here to take the cure from 1638: the thatched Honjin is still standing.
- Yokote Castle ‘Castle of leeks’: ニラ planted on the slopes to stop enemies from climbing up.
- Yokote Kamakura Festival (横手の雪まつり) A hundred snow igloos and 3,500 miniature ones: inside, children offer amazake to anyone who comes in.