Tohoku in Autumn

Over a dozen waterfalls cascade down the walls of Oirase Gorge (奥入瀬渓流), a 14 kilometre forested river gorge in Towada City in Aomori Prefecture spanning from Nenokuchi on the shore of Lake Towada down to Yakeyama. The walking trail follows the river along its full length on a flat paved path through thick moss carpeting the rocks and forest floor, with the beech, maple, oak and birch overhead turning red, orange and gold from late October into early November in the peak of autumn. The gorge is designated both a National Special Place of Scenic Beauty and a National Natural Monument, holds two stars in the Michelin Green Guide, and sits inside Towada-Hachimantai National Park. The JR Bus Tohoku goes to the gorge entrance at Yakeyama from JR Aomori Station in around 2 hours (¥2,650) and from JR Hachinohe Station in around 1 hour 30 minutes, with the buses running from roughly mid April to mid November only. It's worth knowing that in recent years private cars have been banned from the gorge road during the late October foliage peak, with a paid shuttle bus running instead, so check the current arrangements before planning to drive. Bicycle rentals at Yakeyama (¥1,000 for 4 hours, ¥1,500 with electric assist) let you ride the trail one way and drop the bike at Nenokuchi for those wanting to cover more ground than a single afternoon walk allows.

Pleasure boat cruises across Lake Towada (十和田湖) take about 50 minutes between Yasumiya at the southern shore and Nenokuchi at the eastern shore, from ¥1,760 for adults, with deck space for open viewing of the forested caldera walls that change colour from mid to late October each year. The lake sits across the Aomori and Akita prefectural border in a volcanic caldera formed by repeated massive eruptions, the biggest of them around 15,000 years ago, and reaches 327 metres deep as Japan's third deepest lake. It is actually a double caldera, with the deepest section formed by a second eruption inside the first caldera around 6,000 years ago. The lake even created the Oirase Gorge. When the rim gave way around 15,000 years ago, the escaping flood carved out the valley the gorge runs through today. The colour on the caldera walls peaks a little earlier than down in the gorge, so if you're doing both in a day, start with the lake and finish in the gorge. The JR Bus Tohoku goes to the lake at Yasumiya from Aomori Station in around 3 hours for ¥3,480 and from Hachinohe Station in around 2 hours 15 minutes, with the buses running from roughly mid April to mid November only.

Naruko Onsen is a small hot spring town in northwestern Miyagi Prefecture known for Naruko Kokeshi wooden dolls (which squeak when the head is turned, with painted chrysanthemum patterns down the body) and for Naruko Gorge (鳴子峡), which sits in the surrounding hills, about 10 to 15 minutes from the town centre by taxi. The gorge was carved 100 metres deep by the Oya River, and its walls are covered in beech, oak, maple and mountain cherry. When they peak from late October into early November, the reds, yellows and oranges stand out against the white rock faces the gorge is known for. The arch of Ofukazawa Bridge spans the gorge and is best seen from the observation deck by the Naruko-kyo Rest House, which is also the start of a 2.2 kilometre walking trail that loops through the wooded slopes in about 50 minutes. The JR Rikuu East Line between Naruko Onsen Station and Shinjo has been suspended since heavy rain damage in July 2024, with replacement buses covering that section and no reopening date announced, though trains from the Sendai side still reach Naruko Onsen Station as normal. A temporary "Momiji-go" autumn shuttle bus runs from Naruko Onsen Station to the gorge during the foliage season for a few hundred yen one way.

Salmon is the autumn fish in Tohoku as it is in Hokkaido, but the region's own dish is what to look for. From September the rivers fill with fish returning to spawn and the catch is full and rich, turning up grilled, simmered and in hot pots through the season. What Tohoku does with it is はらこ飯 (Harako Meshi), a Miyagi dish from the 亘理 (Watari) area at the mouth of the Abukuma River. The rice is cooked in the broth the salmon was simmered in, so it takes the colour and the flavour, then flaked salmon goes on top and the roe goes over that. The roe here is called はらこ (harako) rather than ikura, which is where the name comes from. It is a rice dish rather than a sashimi bowl, and it belongs to about six weeks of the year.

Pacific saury is one of the most strongly seasonal fish in Japanese cooking, and Tohoku's claim on it is 気仙沼 (Kesennuma) in Miyagi, a port that has handled more fresh sanma than anywhere else in the country. Being landed fresh rather than frozen matters, because it makes 生さんま (raw sanma) possible, sliced as sashimi or laid over vinegared rice, which is not something the fish survives well once it has travelled. By the time the run reaches the Sanriku coast it is at its oiliest, so the standard treatment, grilled whole with grated daikon and a squeeze of citrus, is excellent here too. But the raw version is the reason to eat it in Tohoku specifically rather than further north.

Matsutake cannot be cultivated. It grows only in a living relationship with red pine roots, which is why every one on sale was picked by hand out of a forest, and why the price is what it is. Iwate is one of the country's main sources alongside Nagano, and the fruiting runs through September and October as the mountains cool, on a schedule nobody can predict from one year to the next. Tohoku's treatment is the plainest of the three matsutake regions, with 松茸ご飯 (Matsutake Gohan), rice cooked with the mushroom sliced through it so the fragrance runs into every grain, and 土瓶蒸し (dobin mushi), a clear broth steamed in a small clay pot and drunk from the lid. The aroma is the point, so nothing is added that would compete with it.