Aizuwakamatsu city, located at Fukushima Prefecture in Tohoku(North-eastern) area in Japan. It’s my second stop in my 17-days winter journey in Japan. It’s a popular spot for cherry blossom and autumn leaves. If you come here in winter, you can enjoy the marvelous snow view of the Tsuruga Castle and the city in black and white.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. A day in Aizuwakamatsu
2. TOP 1 must-see landmark: Tsuruga Castle
3. Aizuwakamatsu – “home village” of Samurai
4. Sightseeing in Aizuwakamatsu
5. The vintage steam train departs from Aizuwakamatsu
Beside Tsuruga Castle, there are numerous worth-visiting spots in the city. Below are just a few examples among all:
Nanokamachi Street
The main street outside Nanokamachi train station. There are historic Japanese and Western buildings, traditional craft shops, Cafe, and local restaurants out there.
Unique Cafe and restaurant
↓Do you know who is it on the 1000 JPY dollar?
This Cafe is on Nanokamachi street. It’s formerly theKaihiyo Clinic, where the great doctor Hideyo Noguchi received an operation for his left hand in his early childhood. After that, he started learning medicine from his doctor. This is the place gave birth to his doctor career.
Now, the 1st floor of this building turns into a Cafe, while the 2nd floor is The Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Hall.
The street outside the building is also named as “Hideyo Noguchi Youth Street”. The church where Mr.Hideyo received baptism and the house where Mr.Hideyo’s first lover lived, is still existed and maintained well.
It’s an Cafe located inside the Nanokamachi train station. There are also souvenirs, handcraft, and accessories sold in the shop. Also, you can get sightseeing guide and city map there. (Image from 会津若松観光ビューロー)
“Sakura Sashimi”, “Sakura meat”, “Sakura pot”…guess these cuisines relate to cherry blossom? Not at all, they all refer to horse meat gourmet. Horse meat meal is famous cuisine in Aizu area so remember to give it a try when you are visiting Nanokamchi street! (image from web)
Official site of Tsuruga Honten: Aizu Sakura Nabe：http://turuga829.com/
The Silk Road Museum「絲綢之路文明館」（シルクロード文明館）is located near Tsuruga Castle. It’s built with 30,000 of recycled bricks. The whole building is in a very unique style. The 1st floor is traditional Japanese dessert shop. The mezzanine floor is Cafe area. And the 2nd and 3rd floor is the art museum, displaying several items of the silk road and ancient culture. (image from 会津地域スマートシティ推進協議会)
Oyakuen Garden
It’s a historical and representative Japanese Garden, located near Tsuruga Castle. It takes about 15mins to walk from the Castle so I strongly recommend visiting them at one time. Unique herbal tea is served in the tea room of the garden.（Image from 「換一個地方喝咖啡」by Luke Lai）
“In mid 16 century, the dictator of Aizu started planting herbs in the garden in order to cure contagious diseases which broke out among citizens. That’s why ihe garden is called as oyakuen herbal garden.“—福島縣觀光物產交流協會
