1 Month In Japan – Hirosaki （弘前市）
Part two of the adventure in Japan was a day trip from Aomori to Hirosaki, a relatively small town with some incredible things to see which makes it well worth a visit if you are in the north of Japan. Plus its only a short train ride from Aomori so its very easy to get to.
Upon arrival to the station and jumping off to walk around the town a little it has this beautiful framing to the place, due to nearby Mount Iwaki which is visible from almost anywhere in the town.
While the Mountain really does look great, it’s not the main reason I was here in Hirosaki, that would be the castle for sure. Hirosaki Castle is listed as one of the “Seven Famous Castles Of Japan” mostly due to how intact the castle is and due to the period it’s from.
When you get to the castle, you can walk around the grounds free, but if you want to get to the inner areas where the buildings and decorative gardens are, you will require a ticket, and it’s worth getting a ticket for both the gardens and the castle building for sure. The gardens are so well designed and make for a great place to wander.
One of the gardens at Hirosaki 
Depending on the time of year you visit Hirosaki there are always things to do, A visit in April looks beautiful due to the cherry blossom – however a Visit in late May / June has a hidden gem in the nearby Hirosaki Apple Park.
Hirosaki Apple Park is possibly the best hidden gem you can find if you visit the north of Japan. While it’s mostly bare trees from November – Late May so not too exciting. Towards the end of May the trees are flowering which looks spectacular and then towards September often is when the apples are grown and you can pick apples and the park just is a fun trip.
Enough about apples though, After my trip to the apple park I decided to walk back into town having taken a taxi to the park. On the trip I found a fantastic little food place where I stopped for lunch (More on that in a food blog post). But I grabbed some Nisshin Soba, which I had never had before and decided not to google translate before ordering. Turns out, dried herring in soba which is actually super tasty.
Deciding to now detour just a little to head to the Temple Street (Yes, Hirosaki has a street dedicated to Temples), I made my way up north, encountering something small and hidden away “Fumonin” – a small Buddhist temple, set back from a small street.
Continuing my trek to to Temple street, I made it and it honestly feels like you are suddenly standing in the past. The only modern looking part to the street is the road, the buildings all either are historic, or have that look and it’s something that really has to be seen. The pride of the street though is the main temple Choshoji.
After exploring the temples, (and also discovering the Hirosaki has a lemon flavour drink which is exclusive to Hirosaki because I couldn’t get it anywhere else in Japan and it was so good, I tried, I tried hard) I decided it was time to head back to the train.
Again the walk isn’t too far, so I though it would be a nice walk, and I might find something cool on the way, and boy did I. Like a beacon, down a small side street I happened to walk past something bright red caught my eye, a Tora gate, I decided to walk down the side street – which was only about 3 feet wide. As I got further down it started to open up as other side streets converged on the point, a larger walkway leading to several tora gates and a small shrine.
This, is absolutely the reason why it’s best to walk as much as possible in Japan – yes it may take longer to explore things, but you will find so many of these little places that you would just miss in a taxi or by car.
My time in Hirosaki had come to an end though, with weary feet I was returning back to my hotel to sleep, before knowing where I was heading next, the small town of Hanamaki.
