Japan
Tohoku
Tohoku, the north of Honshu, is snow country in winter and farming valleys in summer, with old hot-spring towns along its rivers.
Our places are in Yamagata: Fujiya Inn on the river in Ginzan Onsen, a street of wooden inns lit by gas lamps after dark, and Yamagata The Takinami at Akayu Onsen, built around a 350-year-old village headman's farmhouse. We know 2 places to stay here, 2 of them ryokans.
How to choose
For Ginzan in the snow
Fujiya Inn: Kengo Kuma's inn on the river, with kaiseki in your room and five private hot-spring baths
For a hot spring of your own
Yamagata The Takinami: every room has an open-air bath of unaltered spring water
When to go
Winter, from December to February, is the season for Ginzan, its wooden inns deep in snow; the leaves turn in late October, and summer is cooler than Tokyo.
How long
One night in each, from Tokyo, or two in Yamagata as part of a longer trip north.
Getting there
The Yamagata Shinkansen reaches Akayu from Tokyo in about two and a half hours and Oishida, for Ginzan, in about 3 hours 10 minutes; from Kyoto or Osaka, change in Tokyo. Yamagata airport, about an hour's flight from Haneda, is about 50 minutes by car from Ginzan.
Ready to stay here?
Tell us where and when. Our team in Japan books the room we would choose, at the inn’s own rate, settles your requests with the inn, and stays in touch before and during your stay. Price and cancellation terms are confirmed with you first.
Already have an itinerary in mind?
Have it reviewed for USD 85Ryokans and hotels
Sample trips through Tohoku
Routes we have drawn up that stay in Tohoku: starting points for a trip we build around your dates and pace.
6 nights · Winter
Snow country in winter: Ginzan, Uonuma and Tanigawa
A round trip from Tokyo to three hot-spring ryokan in the snow: Ginzan Onsen in Yamagata, then Osawayama in Niigata's rice country and Tanigawa Onsen below the mountains of Gunma.
8 nights · Summer and early autumn 2027
Tohoku and Hokkaido by Shiki-shima, then a farmhouse inn in Yamagata
Three nights on Train Suite Shiki-shima, JR East's cruise train, from Ueno by Aizu and the Seikan Tunnel to Hakodate and a hot-spring night in Hokkaido, and back by Aomori and Niigata.
Collections for Tohoku
Elsewhere in Japan
Q&A
Fujiya Inn has five private hot-spring baths, open day and night, which you use alone or as a couple when one is free; its rooms have no hot-spring bath. For a hot-spring bath in the room, Yamagata The Takinami at Akayu Onsen gives every room an open-air one.
By the Yamagata Shinkansen to Oishida, then the inn's car or a local bus, about 40 minutes. Cars cannot enter Ginzan's street, so drivers park at the town entrance and Fujiya Inn fetches them.
Fujiya Inn takes children, booked by phone. Yamagata The Takinami takes children over 10 only.