Tuesday, 4 November 2025

Today involved a short transfer from Hirosaki back to Shin-Aomori. I’ll head to Aomori proper tomorrow so I can catch my coach transfer to my hotel in Oirase Gorge. Why not stay in Aomori? Shin-Aomori is closer to the UNESCO World Heritage Sannai Maruyama Site. I had a couple of choices for the train to Shin-Aomori, I could travel on the Limited Express (LE), which I used to get to Hirosaki, or I could use a local train. The LE left about 15 minutes before the local train, carved a whole 12 minutes off the travel time and cost at least 2.5 times as much. Not much of a contest, I took the local train. Also as a regular public transport user I know that most people will get on the closest carriage to the platform entry. Not me I walked to the front of the train, took a picture of the train and then got on the first carriage where there about 6 other people. The LE might have had more comfortable seats but on a 40 minute journey that’s hardly a factor and in the end I probably had more “space” since seating was commuter style with backs to the side of the train. Also I could stand up and look out the front windows. All sorts of win.

I got to Shin-Aomori about 20 minutes before the shuttle bus to Sannai Maruyama and that was plenty of time to walk to the hotel, check in, give them my overnight bag to mind (room available at 3pm) and walk back to the bus stop.

So some photos from the day. First up breakfast! I was staying in what would be classified as a business hotel. Small but comfortable rooms, right next to a railway station, free breakfast in the morning but definitely Japanese breakfast.

Missing from the feast is a couple of croissant because they had been cleaned out of the breadbox so I had to go back for them. Again I sat at the counter along the windows and watch the parked cars escape the parking structure. I have no idea how they manipulate the cars in there but you drive it and when it’s time to leave the car comes down the lift facing out so the driver just gets in and drives out.

From what I could see the single staff member running the show on the ground looks up where your car is located, takes a swipe card out the log, goes to the appropriate lift, swipes the card on the box next to the lift and then the magic happens.

Also something to note about this hotel is this pad next to the lift call buttons.

Bye Hirosaki, it’s been fun.

What’s big in Hirosaki? Apples and Nebuta. How can I tell? This is how I could tell.

Anyway I eventually get to Sannai Maruyama and the museum is massive but first let’s go out the back to the historic site itself.

The site has volunteer guides, only in Japanese, and the guy in yellow has lucked out with a school group. Behind them is this sign.

Lots of reconstructed buildings based on post holes, fire pits, and the like. Of course they don’t really know what they were like above the ground so there are a number of interpretations. It must have been fun being the people coming up with these ideas.

These large structures were surmised to be off the ground since there was no fire pit or remains of a floor.

There is a large pit building undergoing repair. Half it is open while they work on the other half so it is still accessible.

And then there is this massive tower.

Inside a dark, humid building there is the remains of one of these large pillar supporting buildings with a bit of the 1m diameter chestnut pillar.

In another building is the north mound with a lot of potsherds.

After roaming around the site it was back to look at the permanent collection.

They had these nice multilingual panels

Down in the basement they have a wall embedded with Jomon pottery and their storage space.

You can even see the researchers at work.

And finally I can’t recall seeing a world heritage certificate at any other site but here’s one.

I was now getting quite hungry and the restaurant was still open so Chicken Curry and a beer, followed by corn and chestnut soft serve icecream with a “clay figurine” cookie.

It was about an hour until sunset when I left and rather than waiting for the next bus I decided to walk the 3km back to the hotel, which went through the Sannia Cemetery.

The route took me under the Shinkansen viaduct, I wasn’t going to wait for the next one to pass.

And after a pit stop in a Lawson’s I’m back at the hotel and can collect my bag and find my room.

Toyoko Inns don’t do tiny little alarm clocks, this thing is a big wall clock.

What an “amazing” view, sadly not high enough to see the Shinkansen pass by.