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Best of Aomori with Great Statue of Buddha, archaeological site and Nebuta museum
Aomori City is located on the northern tip of Honshu, the biggest island, and is a port city with a beautiful city skyline and a magnificent mountain range in the background. You first head for the Great Statue of Buddha, the tallest seated bronze statue of Buddha in Japan. Its characteristic is that the Buddha wears a crown on his head and makes a Zen meditation hand gesture. Then you head for the Sannai Maruyama archaeological site, where ancient people lived for about 1,500 years from 5,500 to 4,000 years ago. You can see their lives with things they actually made and used in several dwellings that were precisely reconstructed based on the scientific and archaeological data. On your way back, you will visit the Nebuta Museum. Nebuta are lantern floats, which march along the main street of downtown Aomori during the summer festival.
Brief Info about Nebuta
The floats are made of paper and wire with lots of light bulbs inside. Its origin is unknown as it has a long history. Some say it's about 300 years old, others say 500 years old. And there are several theories about its origin. The most influential one is that Nebuta was used in local communities in those days to get rid of sleepiness of the farmers while they were working during hot summer days.
Nebuta consists of such components as the drum, the bamboo flute and noisemakers as well as its big floats with scary faces of warriors because Nebuta is thought to have been used to scare enemies during the battle. People who dance to the music of Nebuta marching with the floats along the street downtown also play an important role for Nebuta. The Nebuta Festival is held from August 2 to 7 and attracts nearly 3 million visitors from home and abroad.
Meeting Point
At your hotel in Aomori or at Aomori Port
Great Statue of Buddha
Sannai Maruyama archaeological site
Nebuta Museum
Ending Point
At your hotel in Aomori or Aomori Port
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Inclusions & Exclusions
guide fee
public transportation fare for you and your guide (about 1,000 yen/person) and taxi fare (about 3,000 ~ 6,000 yen/group), and entrance fees (1,000 yen/person)
Tour Important Information
Important message from the guide
If you want me to guide you in places other than Aomori, you will be asked to pay an extra charge for your guide's transportation to and from Aomori. For example, extra 10,000 yen will be necessary for a tour in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Currently Hakodate is the only place in Hokkaido I can reach you from Aomori.
Cancellation Policy
- Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
- 50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
- No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
Aomori Tour Reviews
Martin S.
Japanese School and Sightseeing Private Tour in Aomori
“Fantastic day I’ll never forget”
I had a wonderful day in Aomori at a junior high school thanks to Yuki. He is very professional and organised and put together a memorable day. Highlights at the school included a lunch in the classroom where I got to chat casually with the students, and joint them in sports activities after school. I have been to Japan many times and this easily ranks as one of my favourite experiences, and I am privileged to have been able to take part. Yuki was very helpful not only on the day but also the preparation beforehand, and made sure any requests were accommodated. I definitely reccomend Yuki as a guide for your time in Aomori. 本当にありがとうございました！ Martin
Hiroyuki Y.
(12 reviews)Martin, Thanks for your review of the school visit tour we had yesterday. I'm glad to know you had a good time with the students in various activities. Thanks to the principal, we could go into every classroom while showing you around the school buiding. He said he just wanted the students to know about you. If you have another chance to visit Aomori, I'll show you around places we haven't visited. Just keep up with your Japanese language study. Yuki
Frans K.
See hot spring monkeys and eat sukiyaki in Hakodate
“Not at all what we expected”
Expensive for 1 day when you include all the extras such as Hiroyukis train fare of 10,000 yen from his home in Aromori. We really do not understand why we should pay extra for his comute to his place of work. When he advertises his tour of Hakodate you don't expect to pay for his comute. In the numerious tours we have had in Japan we have never been asked to pay this.
Hiroyuki Y.
(12 reviews)Hi Frans, Thanks for your review of the trip you had in Hakodate on October 3. My travel expenses to and from Hakodate are shown on the tour plan and also I often mentioned you the expenses while we were exchanging messages with each other, so I was sure you all understood this. As I mentioned you before you booked the tour, I don't live in Hakodate and usually ask my clients to pay my travel expenses to and from Hakodate. They paid them to me when the tours were over so far. Yuki
“Great guide!”
Today Hiroyuki guided us the whole day in Aomori on a personalised tour in the mountainous area. He organised a van so we could travel comfortably. First we visited the Great Statue of Buddha in the vicinity of Aomori. Yuki is very knowledgeable and extremely well prepared as he explains the local customs and traditions. This is a must see! We did also a beautiful tour around lake Towada. Here we had a fantastic lunch. Later we drove along the Oirase Mountain Stream. This is actually a national park with many stunning waterfalls. Yuki did a great job and answered every question about Aomori, and Japan. We can warmly recommend his services. His English is flawless by the way. Thank you for the wonderfull day!
Hiroyuki Y.
(12 reviews)Monika, Thanks for your quick review of my guiding today. I really enjoyed being with you! All of you were very polite and kind to me during the tour. We were lucky to visit the Great Statue of Buddha instead of going up the mountain by ropeway. And we were also lucky to see the beautiful Oirase Mountain Stream and Lake Towada from the observatories though the weather was not necessarily good. Now I feel satisfied I could show you around the places I planned to. I have to say thank you to the god who helped us. I'm sure he helped us because you are very nice people and came here all the way from Belgium. I wish I could guide you again some time in the future and other tourists from Belgium. Yuki