Aomori

Aomori is the port capital of Japan's northernmost Honshu prefecture, facing Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait. Snowbound in winter and famous for apples, the city built its identity around the Nebuta Matsuri, one of Japan's great summer festivals, and it remains the natural hub for exploring the wider region.

At the Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse on the waterfront, full-size illuminated festival floats stay on display year-round, glowing in a dark hall. The Sannai-Maruyama site preserves one of Japan's most important prehistoric settlements, with reconstructed longhouses, and A-Factory by the station presses local apples into cider.

Come in early August if you can, when the Nebuta floats parade through the streets to chanting and drums. Winter turns the nearby Hakkoda Mountains into deep-powder ski country. The shinkansen reaches Shin-Aomori from Tokyo, and ferries still cross to Hokkaido, so Aomori works as a stop on a northern route.