Travel to Goshogawara City, Aomori Prefecture (1)

Table of Contents

1: Itinerary to Goshogawara
2: Lunch and apple pie in Goshogawara
3: Excellent sushi and very popular izakaya
4: “Tsugaru Shamisen Kaikan” and “Shayokan”
5: Popular Chinese restaurant “Houtenyu”
6: “Tachineputa House”
7: Amazing Izakaya in Hirosaki

1: Itinerary to Goshogawara

I went to Goshogawara City and exchanged with them and Tsugaru Railway to exchange opinions on attracting tourists. I also went sightseeing in Goshogawara City on that occasion, so I am posting a mini-trip.

The itinerary to Goshogawara City is very far. I departed from Tokyo Station on the Hayabusa No. 1 at 6:32 a.m., arrived at Shin-Aomori Station at 9:49 a.m., transferred to the Ou Line, arrived at Kawabe Station at 10:29 a.m., moved to the Gono-Line, and arrived at Goshogawara Station at 11:05 a.m. The total trip took more than 4.5 hours.

Also, even if you fly, if you take JAL Flight 141, leaving Tokyo Station at 6:15 a.m. and departing from Haneda Airport at 7:30 a.m., you will arrive at Goshogawara Station at 11:05 a.m.

This journey takes more than 4.5 hours either by Shinkansen or airplane. Goshogawara is far away, so it may be better to travel via Sendai or Morioka, stopping at other places.

2: Lunch and apple pie in Goshogawara

After arriving in Goshogawara, I ordered an unusual menu item called “Ten Chuka Soba” at a restaurant called “Kamenoya,” about a 5-minute walk from the station. Kamenoya” is the highest-scoring restaurant (3.52 points by Tabelog) in the Goshogawara station area (within 800 meters). The restaurant was so popular that it was almost full by 11:30, right after I entered.

The “Ten Chuka Soba” is a soy sauce-based ramen noodles dish topped with scallop tempura. It is like a combination of tempura soba and Chinese soba.

Ten Chuka Soba

I felt very nostalgic about this “Ten Chuka Soba” because there is a slightly similar food called “Ekisoba” in Himeji, my birthplace. “Ekisoba” is made with udon soup and Chinese noodles. It has tempura on top. The main difference between “Ten Chuka Soba” and “Ekisoba” is whether the soup is Chinese soup or udon soup. I was happy to find similar foods in two distant places, Goshogawara and Himeji.

Ekisoba

After Kamenoya, I had “apple pie” at Carnet d’or. Aomori Prefecture is famous for its apples. Goshogawara is also home to the “Goshogawara” apple, which is red on the inside. The apple pie at Carnet d’Or was a better-than-average apple pie.

Incidentally, the “Eat” section of the official Goshogawara tourist site lists only four types of food: apples, Goshogawara sweets, Tsugaru Railway ekiben, and Misao Kuwata’s bamboo rice cakes. We hope they will list more foods.

3: Excellent sushi and very popular izakaya

After a meeting with Goshogawara City and Tsugaru Railway, I took the Tsugaru Railway to Kanagi Station. Kanagi Station is the closest station to “Shayokan,” the birthplace of Osamu Dazai. Since it was already late, I postponed the visit to “Shayokan” until the next day. I went to “Yakko Sushi” near “Shayokan.” The purpose of my visit to “Yakko Sushi” was to eat horse-meat sashimi.

Kanagi is a small town, but the culture of enjoying horse meat is deeply rooted. Kanagi Station is only 20 minutes from Goshogawara Station on the Tsugaru Railway. Still, horse meat is rarely available around Goshogawara Station. Even in that Kanagi town, there seem to be only two restaurants where you can eat it: “Melos Shokudo” and “Ekisha,” in addition to “Yakko Sushi. The brand-name horse meat “Aomori Basen” is said to be famous, but the production volume is minimal. However, the horse sashimi I tasted at “Yakko Sushi” was outstandingly tasty compared to horse meat from Kumamoto, Nagano, and Fukushima prefectures, which are famous for their horse meat culture. I felt it was worth visiting Kanagi Town to taste the horse sashimi.

I also ordered Nigiri-zushi at “Yakko Sushi,” in addition to horse sashimi. It was also excellent. I love sushi and have eaten sushi in many port towns, including Tokyo. Still, the nigirizushi at “Yakko Sushi” was one of the best sushi I have ever had. Lastly, I had a sushi roll made with clams from Lake Jusan in Goshogawara City. It was also exquisite. This kind of outstanding food keeps me coming back to visit the countryside in Japan. Also, the customer service, especially from the owner, was excellent. I want to revisit this sushi restaurant.

After a satisfying horse sashimi and sushi meal at “Yakko Sushi,” I returned to Goshogawara Station. I went to an izakaya called “Tsurikichi.” I hardly saw anyone around Goshogawara Station, but Tsurikichi was full of people. I was seated at the same table with others.

All the sashimi at Tsuriyoshi was delicious, and I was satisfied. However, I was not as impressed as I was after having had excellent horse sashimi and excellent sushi at “Nuzushi” before. However, I thought it was a good izakaya that I would have been very impressed with before going to “Yakko Sushi.”

Later, before returning to the hotel, I stopped by a craft beer bar called “Creature Brewing,” which was open for business. This beer bar was in pre-opening, and except for me, they were all classmates of the manager. I had a good time talking in the Tsugaru dialect. While listening to the Tsugaru dialect, the craft beer was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. The young master of the nearby popular Chinese restaurant “Houtenyu” was at the bar, so we promised to eat there for lunch the next day and left the restaurant.