The Resort Shirakami: Akita to Aomori by the Sea of Japan
Five hours up the Sea of Japan coast, with a stop on the rocks at Senjojiki on most trains and Tsugaru shamisen on some days
The Resort Shirakami is a train built for looking. It leaves Akita in the morning and again later in the day, and runs north up the coast of Tōhoku, for long stretches right along the shore of the Sea of Japan. Most trains stop for fifteen minutes at Senjojiki so that passengers can walk out onto a wide shelf of coastal rock. Then it turns inland across the Tsugaru plain, under the lone cone of Mt Iwaki and through apple orchards, to Hirosaki and Aomori.
The cars have big windows and an observation lounge at each end, and on some days from April to November a Tsugaru shamisen player comes aboard for half an hour. One Japanese rider, the travel blogger Keitrip, called it “a delightful ride that never got boring” (our translation).
How this page was madeWe have not ridden the Resort Shirakami, or been to Japan. This page is researched from JR East’s own pages and timetables, from the Aomori and Akita tourism sites and from Visit Shirakami. What the ride is like comes from riders’ own published accounts in English and Japanese, each named where we use it. We will say so here when we ride it ourselves.
Last updated 6 November 2026
The route
Train No. 1 leaves Akita at 8.19 and heads north on the Ou Line, past the flat, reclaimed farmland of Hachirogata. At Higashi-Noshiro it turns onto the Gono Line and changes direction, and the seats are turned so that you still face forward. It then waits ten minutes at Noshiro, a basketball town with a hoop on the platform.
From Iwadate the sea runs right beside the line, and between Iwadate and Omagoshi the train slows down for the view. It calls at Juniko for the Twelve Lakes, at Wespa Tsubakiyama and at the harbour town of Fukaura. Most trains then stop at Senjojiki.
At Ajigasawa the line leaves the coast and crosses the Tsugaru plain, through Goshogawara and the orchards, to Kawabe, where the Gono Line ends. At Kawabe it changes direction again, runs into Hirosaki, changes direction once more, and finishes at Shin-Aomori and Aomori, on Mutsu Bay, at 13.34.
What the rail journey is like
The first hour is a warm-up. Matchan, a Japanese blogger who rode the train in November 2023, remembered the views over Hachirogata. After Noshiro the coast arrives. From then on one window is full of sea: rocky shore, small fishing harbours, and on clear days a horizon with nothing on it.
JR East runs three trainsets, each with its own interior. Aoike is blue and white, after a pond at Juniko. Buna is green and fitted out in local beech, and Kumagera is orange, named after a woodpecker of the Shirakami forest.
Passengers gather in the observation lounges, and the front one fills up by day. On some days a Tsugaru shamisen player performs in the lounge car between Ajigasawa and Goshogawara, the fast, percussive music of this region. Matchan found that passengers from other cars could listen from the empty seats in that car. We found no JR East list of which trains carry it.
Some trains also carry storytellers who tell local tales in Tsugaru dialect. Sarah Carter of A Social Nomad noted in 2024 that none of it is translated.
Once the line turns inland, Mt Iwaki stands over the rice fields ahead, and the last hour runs through apple country around Kawabe and Hirosaki. Matchan regretted not bringing a packed lunch. On the Buna and Aoike sets the kiosk is self-service and cashless. The blogger Nomitetsu Tako-chan, posting in November 2024, found no alcohol on sale and a toilet out of order, and judged the train worth riding, if not worth a trip for its own sake.
The letdowns riders report are mostly about weather. Dentetsu, riding in June 2022, had rain and low cloud that hid Mt Iwaki, and a cold, strong wind at Senjojiki. Carolyn D from Brisbane, reviewing on Tripadvisor in 2023, called the scenery “not mind blowing”, though still enjoyed the day. Riders who caught a clear afternoon write differently: Keitrip, in September 2021, walked the Senjojiki rocks in low sunset light and found the car nearly empty.
Dazai at Fukaura
In 1944 the novelist Osamu Dazai, who was born at Kanagi on the Tsugaru plain, travelled around his home region for a book commissioned about it. The result, Tsugaru, ends with a chapter on the west coast. At Fukaura he stayed at the Akitaya inn, which appears in the book and is now a museum to him. Dazai warned readers that they would learn little about Tsugaru itself. His subject, in James Westerhoven’s translation, was “the human heart in its relations with other hearts.”
Step down from the train at Senjojiki and walk out across the rock until the carriages are behind you. The wind comes straight off the Sea of Japan, and on an autumn afternoon the sun is low over the water. Listen to the waves working at the edge of the rock, and to the voices of the other passengers carried off by the wind. Look west, where there is nothing between you and the horizon but water. When the horn sounds, you have three minutes. Until then the sea is the only timetable.
The stages
Times are for train No. 1, northbound, from JR East’s November 2026 timetable. The other trains take a similar time. In autumn 2026 trains 2 to 5 stop at Senjojiki; train No. 1 does not.
| Stage | From → to | Time | What you see, and which side | Stops and changes | Main constraint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Hachirogata | Akita → Higashi-Noshiro | 8.19 to 9.12 | Flat reclaimed farmland; either side | Changes direction at Higashi-Noshiro, and seats are turned | The sea is not in view yet |
| 2 · The Shirakami coast | Higashi-Noshiro → Juniko | 9.19 to 10.24 | The sea beside the line from Iwadate, and slow running for views to Omagoshi; A seats | Ten minutes at Noshiro; Juniko for the Twelve Lakes | Wind and waves can stop trains in winter |
| 3 · The harbour coast | Juniko → Ajigasawa | 10.24 to 11.44 | Fishing harbours, Fukaura and the Senjojiki rock shelf; A seats | Short stop at Fukaura; fifteen minutes at Senjojiki on trains 2 to 5 | The Senjojiki walk is cut in bad weather or warnings |
| 4 · The Tsugaru plain | Ajigasawa → Kawabe | 11.44 to 12.41 | Rice fields, Mt Iwaki and apple orchards; the shamisen plays as far as Goshogawara | Goshogawara for the Tsugaru Railway to Kanagi; changes direction at Kawabe | No shamisen from December to March |
| 5 · To Aomori | Kawabe → Hirosaki → Aomori | 12.41 to 13.34 | Hirosaki, then the run to Mutsu Bay | Changes direction at Hirosaki; Shin-Aomori for the Shinkansen | Trains 3 and 6 go no further than Hirosaki |
The coast: Iwadate to Ajigasawa
This is the stretch people come for, about an hour and three-quarters of sea. The train slows between Iwadate and Omagoshi while an announcement points out the view.
Near Wespa Tsubakiyama is Furofushi Onsen, whose open-air bath sits at the edge of the sea. A shuttle to the baths must be booked ahead, the baths close in high waves, and the day-use hours differ between listings. One rider reports that the Wespa Tsubakiyama resort beside the station has been closed since 2020, so confirm the shuttle with the inn before you plan on it.
The Tsugaru plain and the shamisen
At Ajigasawa the sea falls away behind and the train crosses open farmland towards Mt Iwaki, a lone volcanic cone standing over the plain. The shamisen performance, about thirty minutes, runs on this stretch as far as Goshogawara. At Kizukuri look out for the station building, built in the form of a giant clay figure from the region’s prehistoric past. By Kawabe the fields have turned to apple orchards.
Stops worth breaking the journey for
Four places on the line repay a few hours off the train: a blue pond in the beech forest, Dazai’s coast, the festival floats of the Tsugaru plain and an old castle town. A seat ticket covers one train, so book a seat on a later train as well. We found no JR East statement on whether your fare ticket allows a stopover, so ask at the ticket office.
Juniko
The Twelve Lakes lie in beech forest at the edge of the Shirakami mountains, and the best known, Aoike, is famous for water of an intense, clear blue. A walk around Aoike and the neighbouring pond takes about 45 minutes. A bus runs from the station from mid-April to the end of November (Visit Shirakami, 2026); check its times locally, as we did not find them. The lakes are closed from December to March.
Fukaura
A fishing town on the coast and the place Dazai stayed on his journey round Tsugaru. The inn where he slept is now a museum about him and the book. It sits between the lakes at Juniko and the rocks at Senjojiki, so it is a natural place to break a day on the coast.
Goshogawara and Kanagi
Goshogawara keeps the towering floats of its summer festival on show in the Tachineputa museum. From here the small Tsugaru Railway runs north to Kanagi. A seven-minute walk from Kanagi station is Shayōkan, the mansion where Dazai was born, open 9am to 5pm from November to April, except 29 December (Aomori Tourism). We did not find Tsugaru Railway times or fares.
Hirosaki
The old castle town of Tsugaru, and the start and finish for two of the day’s trains. The castle park holds an autumn leaves festival and is lit up in winter. Mt Iwaki stands behind the town, and it is a good place to spend the night before riding south.
Planning the journey
Where to sit
Book an A seat. JR East and the national tourism ministry both say the A side faces the sea in either direction, and riders agree. One rider, Moto Ishizawa, put it simply: “To sit sea-side, reserve row A” (our translation). The sea may be on your left or your right, depending on the direction. Ishizawa adds that the seats are turned when the train changes direction, so a seat can end up facing away from the sea for part of the way.
The box seats in car 2 all face the sea and recline to make a flat space for a small group. Sarah Carter found that online booking offered only ordinary seats, and JR East’s own guidance on this differs, so a box seat may need a visit to a JR ticket office.
The named train or the ordinary one?
Ordinary local trains also run on the Gono Line, and a JR rail pass covers them with no seat reservation. They have no observation lounges, no shamisen and no fifteen-minute stop at Senjojiki. We did not find their current timetable, so check JR East’s before relying on one. Ride the Resort Shirakami for the coast, and treat the local trains as a fall-back.
Booking, passes and fares
Seats go on sale at 10am one month before the day of travel, on JR East’s Eki-net site or at a JR ticket office. Every seat is reserved, and the seat fee from Akita to Aomori is ¥840, half for children, on top of the ordinary fare (JR East timetable, November 2026). JR East’s pages that we read on 6 November 2026 do not give that fare, so use its fare search for your exact journey.
Holders of the Japan Rail Pass or the JR East Pass reserve their seats free, but they must still reserve. Ekitan, writing in July 2026, says IC cards cannot be used for this train, so buy a ticket.
One way or there and back?
One way. A day return from Akita to Aomori would be more than ten hours on the train. Ride it in one direction and travel the other way by Shinkansen via Morioka, or carry on north. If a Shinkansen is booked at Shin-Aomori or Akita, leave a good margin: one rider in February 2025 nearly missed the connection.
Travelling with a mobility need, and luggage
The train has a barrier-free toilet, according to Aomori Tourism. We found nothing from JR East on step-free boarding or wheelchair space, and Ekitan advises wheelchair users to contact JR East before travelling. The walk at Senjojiki is out onto open rock, and it is optional. Ekitan says there is space on board for large luggage.
When to go
We suggest April to November, when the lakes at Juniko are open and the shamisen runs on some days. In autumn 2026 all six trains ran daily on most dates, and riders on the afternoon trains reached Senjojiki near sunset. Winter brings fewer trains and a greater chance of suspension. We did not find the spring and summer calendar, so check JR East’s timetable for your dates.
JR East’s notice of 20 January 2026 says that from December to March only trains 1, 2, 4 and 5 run, on selected days, mostly Friday to Sunday, and that trains 3 and 6 run only from 1 to 5 December. Dates can change, so check the timetable before you plan a winter trip.
If the journey breaks down
This coast is exposed to the weather, and a few precautions make a disruption easy to absorb:
- Check JR East’s Akita service information on the morning you travel. Heavy rain suspended trains in August 2025 and snow did so in February 2026, and wind and high waves can stop them in winter.
- Stay close to the train at Senjojiki and listen for the horn. If a weather or tsunami warning is in force, the walk is cancelled; one rider, posting in January 2026, had a one-minute stop there and then a late departure from Fukaura.
- If the train is withdrawn, a bus may replace it, as it did for one rider after a vehicle fault in 2024. Leave slack in your plans, and know where you would spend a night, such as Hirosaki.
- Phone signal comes and goes on the coast, so save your tickets and the timetable before you board.
A final word on the Resort Shirakami
Plenty of trains in Japan are faster. Few give you this much sea, and none we know of stops so that you can walk out onto the rocks and stand in it. Book an A seat on an afternoon train, bring lunch, and keep your eyes on the window between Fukaura and Ajigasawa.
Andrew + Margaret
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Can I hear the shamisen if I am not in the lounge car?
The performance is in one car. Matchan, in November 2023, found that passengers from other cars could listen from the empty seats there. It runs on some days only and may be cancelled.
Is there Wi-Fi on board?
There is, but one rider in February 2025 found it dropped out along the coast with the phone signal, and power points were few.