Akita

Akita (秋田) is the capital of Akita prefecture in the northern Tohoku region of Japan's Honshu island.

Travel to Akita - Visa Requirements

Flights and airtickets to Akita

Akita has an airport, with domestic flights coming in from such places as Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Sapporo. Buses connect the airport with Akita station (40 minutes, ¥890).

By train

The Akita Shinkansen provides hourly service from Tokyo station to Akita station. Trains are all-reserved and are known as Komachi (こまち) 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 ¥16810 each way, so it might be wise to get a rail pass of some kind before making the journey. 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.

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.

Buses to Akita

Odakyu Bus runs an overnight bus service, the "Flora", from Shinjuku to Akita. Two departures each night (8-9 hours, ¥9450 one-way).

Tours and Getting around Akita

Akita tourist attractions and sightseeing

Senshu Park is a beautiful place to take a walk, especially during the spring season when the cherry blossoms are blooming. The park hosts a replica of Akita Castle, the original having been constructed in 733 AD. For a small admission fee, the lower floors of the castle contain a small museum, and the upper floor provides a panoramic view of the city.

Akita city tours

Akita Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

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.

Akita nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

As one of Japan's most famous rice-growing regions, Akita has some of the best local sake in all of Japan. A great place to find many different bottles for sale (and usually free samples) is in the Prefectural Goods Shop in the basement of the Atorion Concert Hall.

Get out

Kakunodate, one of Japan's last true historical towns and filled with old samurai houses open to the public, is only about an hour away by shinkansen.

This page was last edited by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. Based on work by Lee Bissett, Jose Ramos and Jani Patokallio, Wikitravel user(s) Philnicau and Mnd and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license