The Takayama Inari Shrine snakes like a dragon on the wintry landscape.
The ancient Samurai mansions, with their exhibits of armour and artefacts, were interesting, but we kept getting distracted by snow falling outside. Our dismay at the raindrops that greeted us when we disembarked from our bus in the Samurai district of Kakudate had turned into sheer delight as it started snowing, more and more heavily. The Japanese garden in the compound of the old Samurai mansion was soon blanketed in white, and we simply couldn’t look away.
We were in Tohoku, which literally means North-Eastern region, in the north of Japan’s main island, Honshu, on a trip organised by Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO).
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Gallery: Japan's Tohoku is a snowy treasure trove
The Takayama Inari Shrine snakes like a dragon on the wintry landscape.
On the stove train that runs only in winter, you can grill dried cuttlefish and enjoy it with sake.
Snow started falling and blanketed the garden at the Samurai mansion in Kakunidate, an old Samurai district in Tohoku.
It has been an unseasonably warm winter in Tohoku; in other years snow would have covered every surface by January.
Visitors to the Oga Shinzen Folklore Museum can watch a reenaction of the Namahage's visits to village homes.
A craftsman carries on the tradition of carving Namahage masks.
One of the highlights of our winter holiday was watching snow fall in Kakunadate.
Winter freeze at Hirotaki Park in Aomari.
It was a fun dinner when the Namahage folk creatures barged in with much fanfare.
Akita prefecture is dotted with rice fields as taxes used to be paid in rice, and the best sake is said to be from this area.
Chuson-ji temple is a Unesco World Heritage site, and its bells tolled for an hour-and-a-half in March 2011 for the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami victim in nearby Fukushima.
Mount Zao is a winter wonderland with its pristine white snow slopes. — Photos: IVY SOON/The Star
The Takayama Inari Shrine in Aomori is reminiscent of the Fujimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, but minus the massive crowds.
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