Japan private tour insights for Tohoku's Fukushima Prefecture

Swans on their winter migration, with Fukushima Prefecture's Mount Bandai in the background.

Fukushima Prefecture, like the rest of the Tohoku region previously covered on this blog, is off the beaten track for most foreign travelers. The prefecture is Japan's 3rd largest and covers more than 150 km along the Pacific Ocean and high mountain regions. And like the rest of the Tohoku region, Fukushima Prefecture is home to deep nature, samurai culture, volcanic landscapes, hot springs and excellent sake.

Many readers will associate Fukushima with the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. However, in the 14 years since that event the problem has mostly been stabilized. And the no-entry zone at the nuclear plant accounts for less than 3% of the entire prefecture. So, travel in the region is safe and most of the earthquake damage has been "fixed." Radiation levels in the prefecture are now at pre-2011 levels.

Fukushima's biggest advantage is that it is very close to Tokyo. The prefecture's main cities are a little over an hour away by bullet train. I went there in 1984 in August to escape the heat and crowds of Tokyo (see below).

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The best places to visit in Tohoku's Fukushima Prefecture

Japan private travel content by Your Japan Private Tours' (established in 1990) founder Japan travel expert Ian Martin Ropke. I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. Your Japan Private Tours specializes in bespoke travel for private clients (I do not work with agents) including exclusive excursions, personalized experiences, and unique adventures. I am 100% client-centric and total individual attention. Consider my Japan travel services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. Learn more!

The best places to visit in Tohoku's Fukushima Prefecture

For nature enthusiasts and history buffs, Fukushima Prefecture offers a lot and it's so close to Tokyo! Learn more!

Great Fukushima Prefecture destinations:

Ouchijuku post town: The old Ouchijuku post town was an official stop on the Edo-period (1600-1868) Aizu-Nishi Kaido trade route. This trade route connected Fukushima's Aizu Wakamatsu samurai town (see below) with Nikko to the southwest. Post towns were also shogun police check points and were home to expensive and cheap inns where travelers (who walked!) could rest and eat en route. Present-day Ouchijuku has received special restoration attention, and all telephone lines and electricity lines are underground (a rare thing in Japan!). Ouchijuku's unpaved main road is lined on either side with thatch roofed structures that are home to restaurants, shops and minshuku B & B inns. The local food specialties include roasted char fish and soba buckwheat noodle dishes (and excellent sake!). Ouchijuku's main inn for high ranking shogunate officials is also on the main road and is now an excellent history museum.

Tohoku's Oze National Park spanning four prefectures: Oze National Park is about 150 km north of central Tokyo and is popular for its extensive hiking routes in a pristine mountainous region. The park is mostly in Fukushima and Gunma prefectures but small sections are also part of Niigata and Tochigi prefectures. The Ozegahara Marshland and Ozenuma Pond are excellent destinations for bird watching, especially during spring and autumn migrations, and have elevated boardwalks. A few travelers to the park spend the night in simple mountain huts but for most it is a day trip from Tokyo or other nearby cities. The park is also famous for its lovely white skunk cabbage flowers, which normally bloom between late May and early June.

Aizu-Wakamatsu samurai castle town: The samurai castle town of Aizu-Wakamatsu is the northern terminus on the post station trade route described above. Aizu-Wakamatsu is famous for its samurai culture and for its excellent local sake production. is known for its award-winning sake and its samurai tradition. On the edges of the town, visitors will find many hiking and skiing destinations and lots of natural beauty. The town's highlight locations include Tsuruga Castle, the old Aizu Bukeyashiki samurai mansion, the Higashiyama Onsen hot spring resort, and the Suehiro sake brewery.

Fukushima's amazing Bandai region: Fukushima's Bandai area is one of the best and closest outdoor destinations to the super high-density Tokyo region (home to over 40 million people!). The epi-center of Bandai is Mount Bandai, an active volcano that last blew up in 1888). I went to Bandai in the early 1980s to escape the August heat of Tokyo. It was an adventure just getting there for a person who had little money but heaps of time (I was 24). I arrived quite early in the morning and ended up totally relaxing on a large lake with few people around (likely a weekday). I slept on the lake, and the evenings were cool and the air extremely refreshing. The 1888 Bandai eruption was so strong that the landscape was "re-designed." The eruption of Mount Bandai on July 15, 1888, triggered a debris avalanche that dammed rivers, resulting in the formation of hundreds of new lakes and ponds. Suddenly there were numerous lakes or big ponds that filled up with really pure water. The north end of Bandai is home to the volcanic Azuma Mountains, one peak looks very much like iconic Mount Fuji. Lake Inawashiro is near the southern edge of the region and very popular for water sports in summer and for Japan's large swans during migration periods. Other Bandai lakes include the famous Goshiki-numa lakes ("Five-Colored Lakes"). Bandai is also a popular destination in winter for snowshoeing, skiing and snowboarding.

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