Northern trains: from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific

You will catch a high-speed train just before 8:00 from Tokyo station, or an hour and a half later if you choose to spend the night in Sendai. 

By mid-morning you will reach the town of Hiraizumi, whose treasures are classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. After looking around and then lunch, you'll take a short train ride to visit a very old foundry where the famous Japanese cast-iron teapots have been made with passion for 400 years. 

You will then travel at high speed on the graceful and comfortable "Shinkansen" through rural landscapes to a charming little town, your stop for the evening, where delicious cuisine and hot baths await you in a traditional setting.

After breakfast in your hotel, you'll start by visiting some very beautiful old samurai warrior mansions, some of which still belong to their descendants. 

From the station you'll take the high-speed train back to the provincial capital on the western seaboard and the Sea of Japan in less than an hour. There you can visit an astonishing museum and a very pleasant park where you can see the remains of the clan fortress. 

You will have lunch in one of the town's many restaurants before boarding a small train, then another after a short change, and finally head north along the wild coast, admiring the sun disappearing over the sea from your comfortable seat. 

You will get off at the station in a tiny seaside town where you will stop for the night.

From the small station where you arrived the day before, this time you'll take a bus to the edge of a 130,000-hectare park, listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its unspoilt beech forest. A series of pleasant footpaths will allow you to discover several small lakes in their wild setting. 

The bus will take you back to the small station, where you can catch the charming little train that runs north and then east along the indented coast of the Sea of Japan to reach the town of Aomori, at the very tip of Honshu. Here you'll discover a fascinating folk museum, before taking the high-speed train back to the immense shores of the Pacific Ocean. 

This evening's stopover is renowned for its fresh fish and friendly restaurants.

You will leave your hotel at around 9:00 to take the train to the southern part of the city, where you'll find an astonishing sanctuary on the edge of the ocean, literally invaded by an impressive number of seabirds. 

Before heading to the main station, take a leisurely stroll along the coast towards an observation deck. As you walk, the endless ocean unfolds before you, stretching towards the horizon. With renewed energy, hop back on the train for your next destination.

On arrival, while you wait for your next train, you can discover an amazing building designed by the famous architect Kisho Kurokawa. Then it's back along the coastline, with its tall red pine trees typical of the Sanriku coast. 

The evening stopover was made famous by the terrible images of the overflowing ocean in 2011, but it has also been famous for the exceptional beauty of its beaches for much longer. So it's by the water that you'll be sleeping again this evening, with the prospect of a beautiful sunrise this time for the early risers...

This morning you can stroll along the ocean shore before taking the bus back to the station and then boarding a small local train. 

You'll pass through a landscape of wooded mountains, lazy rivers and small stations. After around two hours, civilisation reappears: you're back on the high-speed railway line! 

Now it's time to head back to vibrant Tokyo and its dizzying glass and steel buildings...