The Tohoku Episode

That is Tohoku, which is the northern part of Honshu.

And it's an area that I've, you know, I've been there a few times, I've explored a little bit, but I think you, Rob, you know it much better than me.

So hopefully, you're going to be our guide.

Right.

Yeah.

I went there first time in about not long before the big earthquake up.

I was there in 2010 working on my first ever guidebook, a guidebook update.

And so I spent a couple of weeks backpacking around Tohoku in 2010 and really got to like it for lots of reasons we'll talk about later.

And then, of course, 2011 was the major, major earthquake up there.

Yeah.

Followed by the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Whenever you go up, especially when you go up onto the eastern coast, you're never far away from reminders of that.

Right.

And since then, I've been up a lot for various projects, sometimes articles, sometimes work with local MPOs or things like that.

And more recent years, I've been a chapter on Tohoku for the Lonely Planet Japan guide.

Okay.

Which usually takes about a month of on the ground research each time it comes around.

So I've spent a lot of time up there over the years.

And it's lovely.

It really is a lovely part of the country.

So Tohoku, it covers quite a wide area, doesn't it? I don't know how many prefectures exactly.

Well, Tohoku properly is six prefectures.

But sometimes there's a wee bit of confusion because sometimes people bunch Niigata in with it as well.

So for example, our Lonely Planet chapter isn't called Tohoku, it's called Northern Honshu, and it's the six prefectures of Tohoku plus Niigata.

And you also find that the local tourism, the regional tourism rather, they promote Niigata as well as Tohoku together.

That is Tohoku, which is the northern part of Honshu.

And it's an area that I've, you know, I've been there a few times, I've explored a little bit, but I think you, Rob, you know it much better than me.

So hopefully, you're going to be our guide.

Right.

Yeah.

I went there first time in about not long before the big earthquake up.

I was there in 2010 working on my first ever guidebook, a guidebook update.

And so I spent a couple of weeks backpacking around Tohoku in 2010 and really got to like it for lots of reasons we'll talk about later.

And then, of course, 2011 was the major, major earthquake up there.

Yeah.

Followed by the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Whenever you go up, especially when you go up onto the eastern coast, you're never far away from reminders of that.

Right.

And since then, I've been up a lot for various projects, sometimes articles, sometimes work with local MPOs or things like that.

And more recent years, I've been a chapter on Tohoku for the Lonely Planet Japan guide.

Okay.

Which usually takes about a month of on the ground research each time it comes around.

So I've spent a lot of time up there over the years.

And it's lovely.

It really is a lovely part of the country.

So Tohoku, it covers quite a wide area, doesn't it? I don't know how many prefectures exactly.

Well, Tohoku properly is six prefectures.

But sometimes there's a wee bit of confusion because sometimes people bunch Niigata in with it as well.

So for example, our Lonely Planet chapter isn't called Tohoku, it's called Northern Honshu, and it's the six prefectures of Tohoku plus Niigata.

And you also find that the local tourism, the regional tourism rather, they promote Niigata as well as Tohoku together.