A Fascinating Castle Town in Fukushima, Japan | Aizuwakamatsu

A fun day of exploring Aizu-Wakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It is a small town famous for its samurai history. You will see Tsuruga Castle (Tsurugajo), Iimoriyama, Higashiyama Onsen, and much more.

✅ You might enjoy watching Nikko videos:
✔️ Ouchijuku Village: https://youtu.be/C4YTMvdy8kA
✔️ Nikko Historic Town: https://youtu.be/plmYa2R6w84
✔️ Okunikko & Nikko National Park: https://youtu.be/CznATbes66o

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#japan #fukushima #aizu

I’m exploring Fukushima
today and my first mission is
to to visit this beautiful
castle famous for its
traditional samurai
history wow isn’t that beautiful
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oh
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la
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I am in a town called ISO
wakamatsu in Fukushima prefecture and
this town is famous for a very very
beautiful castle that I would like to go
and visit but first I need to buy a
ticket for the day pass for the bus
system here in this beautiful town that
will take me from one part of the city
to the next so let’s go and explore that
beautiful
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castle
foreign
fore spee
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all right the Bots just dropped me off
here to visit the castle and it’s called
suru
castle and it’s famous for its uh
Samurai uh
history and the bus um pass that I got
is only 600 Yen for the entire day and I
am staying here for about uh 5 days I am
based in uh a town called ISO
wakamatsu and I chose this town because
um it’s a good location to explore the
uh the surrounding uh the surrounding
areas and the first mission is to visit
of course the uh the
castle and then there is a beautiful
Village um
nearby that requires um almost a full
day um full day uh trip day trip from
here it will take about an hour to get
there and that will be for
another for another day here is the the
entrance and it looks like
uh the uh the walk is
beautiful and this is uh in a prefecture
called uh
Fukushima and
Fukushima um I the prefecture was
affected by the nuclear accident back in
2011 um caused by the earthquake and the
tsunami but this particular town uh ISO
escaped the U the
contamination from the uh
nuclear accident so I was a little bit
uh
hesitant to uh to
visit the the town due to the radiation
levels but uh people are assured me that
the levels the radiation levels uh are
back to U the pre uh 2011 accident so I
guess I am uh
safe but there are some zones in
Fukushima that are still not open to the
uh to the public because they are still
contaminated from my understanding and
that is a little bit on the Eastern side
of
Fukushima I am now in the in in the
central um Central uh
section of uh Fukushima and that is the
uh the tle that I am trying to get to
but it’s a lot of uh School groups are
out and about maybe they are on a school
field trips so let them go first while
they uh they leave I will just uh walk
around uh
here and uh
see what the free section of this Castle
offers I’m sure there is a beautiful uh
Garden
uh but that is requires a ticket that I
will buy in a minute just uh just want
to wait for those kids to leave and here
is what are they doing
oh
boy they’re practicing
what yeah I don’t want to uh I don’t
want to make them com uncomfortable when
they see the camera and there is a
public uh
toilet right
there so I will stop uh filming until
they uh leave and I will
resume um after the area gets cleared
okay I waited for the school kids to to
leave and there’s still small group
leaving as I am walking uh toward the
the
castle and I am sure you have
seen uh the image of that beautiful
castle on the internet if you have done
any kind of research around the Japan in
Fukushima
and I
chose to stay in Fukushima because I’m
trying to take a rest uh trying to take
a
break um from my
trip my longterm trip I’ve been jumping
from one place to the
next and Fukushima is a good area to uh
to base myself before reaching another
section of Japan toward the
North and
wow so beautiful right there but I’m not
sure where the uh the entrance
is but I see a lot of uh
groups out and
about
and it’s a beautiful cafeteria here
trying to find out where
they buy the
ticket castle
ticket
yeah ticket ticket over
there okay
okay
so she wants me to go that way to buy
the um the the
ticket but the walk is uh is also
beautiful up
ahead it was built in uh
133
84 and then it got destroyed
completely during the bushan war in
1868 and they decided
to do the uh to rebuild it in the
1960s and finally was open to the public
in
2011 so it took them long long time to
to rebuild it that is the ticket
office right there look at that so
beautiful so a lot of history behind it
and it’s one of the last strongholds of
the uh of the
Samurai that were loyal to the uh
Shogun rulers let’s get a ticket
first all right I got the ticket that
includes the uh castle building and the
tea house but I’m not sure if they allow
cameras inside so I might not be able to
film the whole thing inside but I’m sure
the garden outside will be much better
so I will definitely film that part
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see I’m trying to go to the last floor
it gives me a a view of ISO from the top
floor observation deck and photo is okay
that is a good good news but the first
floor um they don’t allow cameras for
some reason but the second floor and up
then they’re okay
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n
all right I got to the top but it’s a
little
bit a little bit uh crowded here because
it’s very very popular destination to
visit and this is the observation
deck gives a beautiful view of the
garden downstair all the way down I
might go there later and walk it’s a
beautiful uh it’s going to be a
beautiful
walk a good afternoon walk and let’s
keep going it’s like
uh to see the the other side
downstairs is that’s the I think where I
got the ticket or maybe the that’s where
the cafeteria is
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he
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there is a
beautiful tea house that I am trying to
uh to go the ticket that I got is a
combo ticket that includes the um the
castle the beautiful castle right there
it gives you access to go all the way to
the top I’m not sure if that was worth
it or not but you get you you saw it and
you can judge for yourself and
but the tea house I got it because I
want to go uh take a break for the
better part part of 5 minutes and and
relax there but I do see a beautiful
river right
there and the ticket I think I got got
it for
520 Yen it looks like this uh region is
a little bit cheaper uh than uh than
Nico I was in Nico prior to my visit uh
to
Fukushima I stayed there
for for 5 days you can check out my uh
my videos I have uh I have some videos
for Nico and uh the National Park it’s a
beautiful National Park um I highly
recommend you consider it if you happen
to visit um Japan in the future it’s
such a beautiful uh season right now we
we are at the uh in late April right now
and I do I still see some uh cherry
blossom trees are still
blooming so let’s go to that uh
beautiful uh Tea
House some people have uh allergies to u
to this uh cherry blossom uh trees and I
think this is is the uh the entrance to
the
uh to uh to this beautiful uh house but
I already have a ticket I don’t know if
I need to wait in line or not I just uh
I have I already have a ticket good oh
you need to tear it
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okay if you don’t get the uh the combo
ticket you end up uh paying
more so it’s better to have the combo
ticket at the entrance when you get the
uh the ticket for the for the castle
otherwise you’re going to pay a little
bit uh you end up a little bit more so
I’m I’m very a Frugal guy so I like to
to find economical ways
to to to get a more bang for you for my
buck
I think the route goes this
way I need to follow the
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rules my
camera is acting a little bit weird
today as far as the stabilization
feature
for some reason it’s not working
today I see a lot of shaky
footage do they actually give
uh tea or what I don’t see um I only see
people walk but I don’t see them sit
down and uh drink
tea I have no idea
maybe that office is uh where they get
the tea
from see a bunch of uh rest
areas but they don’t serve
tea here we
go she’s serving tea maybe I need to sit
down
and and order
a let’s sit down uh inside
I sit down here or where do I sit down
there anywhere you want yeah I have a
ticket I go there any seat you want okay
any seat I want okay thank
you all right let’s go let’s go sit here
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I
found a quiet area here to to walk and
hike I
guess the uh the tea house was um right
there down there but it turned out that
the ticket that I have only gives me
access to enter the area The Tea House
section but does not give me access to
actually drink uh the the
tea and that cost about um 600
yen to drink um the their tea but
because it’s already lunchtime so I say
why not just go grab uh something to eat
and then drink coffee
after lunch but it’s not a good idea to
drink tea when my stomach is empty and I
see a beautiful um view of
the of the castle from this uh beautiful
uh
Trail and there is another section of
this town that I am trying to visit
today and I will try to uh squeeze it in
this video if not then uh if I don’t
have time I will probably visit it
tomorrow but most likely L I still have
time it’s still uh 12:00
p.m. so and plus I already got the day
pass for the bus uh ticket so I need to
make good use of it so let’s go grab
something to eat
first all right on my way out I see
this
beautiful
Shrine and as usual I’m not sure if I
should keep on the left or right I’m
still confused um some places they
say keep uh walk on the left side and
the other places say walk on the right
side so it’s not really a set
rule but uh all right there is one
gentleman right here maybe he’s a a
tourist just like me
no a
visitor and
uh wow that’s the view of
the of the river or lake not quite sure
if that’s a lake or a River
man-made lake I have no
idea but uh this corner offers another
beautiful view
of the
castle right
there
wow isn’t that beautiful
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I
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I I
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okay I had lunch delicious
lunch for about
1, 500
yen and then coffee for 500 yen total
about 2,000
Yen and I took a bus for about 30
minutes to get to this uh
place and this is historic
place called Li
moriyama so it’s pretty much is a site
where they have 20 tombs of
uh
solders young soldiers soldiers uh age
14 to 16 who committed uh ritual suicide
here when they saw their Castle
burning during the Civil War in
1868 when they saw the castle that uh
that I just
visited were
burning and uh it turned out that the
castle actually did not
fall they actually made an
error so they died for
nothing and
uh there were like 20
boys one of them survived did not his uh
suicide
attempt was not successful you can read
up more about this story it’s a true
story you can Google
it it’s a big climb you see and there is
an
elevator um lift I think or foric foric
I think down
there but I would like to exercise and
keep
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going and along the way I see a small
souvenir
shop so pretty much
The Climb
continues but I can see that it’s
beautiful nature up
ahead that will be a
beautiful afternoon
hike wow you look behind me it’s
beautiful so where are those
tombs this is one of the uh top uh sites
to visit in this uh in the city called
ISO
wakamatsu I think those are
the the the 20
tombs of the
solders who were loyal
to
the Shogun
regime who resisted the uh the new
government after
1868
wow I am uh using a website called
japang guide.com
and uh just in case you are curious uh
let me show you this is the website
Japan
DG guide.com
and I like to use this website not to
get information but to uh to get help as
far as uh what bus I should take to to
visit a specific site and it’s really
helpful they tell you the cost of the
bus uh or the cost of the
train and that this is what I I use the
site for so in case
you are
reading uh I mean you’re doing your
research uh you want to visit Japan this
should be at the top of your
uh uh websites that you that you might
need to keep as a reference I don’t get
anything out of them I’m not promoting
their their website nothing I get
nothing out of them I’m not
collaborating with them or nothing like
that I’m just telling you that this is
the site that I use in addition to
Wikipedia uh Wikipedia and what else I
use um Reddit
forum and Trip Advisor
forum and chat
GPT the those are the top uh websites
that I use in all my
travel uh by the way not only in Japan
but
japan-guide.com
that’s only applies to Japan and I found
it very very helpful they also have uh a
YouTube channel that might be uh helpful
it’s different Channel than mine I mean
they just give uh like um a travel guide
it’s totally different style from mine
mine is a
vlog so but if you want something uh
very quick as opposed to my long boring
videos where I just blah blah blah you
know you want something quick and more
useful and uh more
educational go to their website it’s
very I find it very helpful I myself
watch their their their channel uh when
I have uh time to uh to get
information like for example uh I just
watched one of their videos last night
to get an idea of what uh that Village
that I am trying to to visit is about an
hour away from uh from here
here and I found their video to be very
uh
useful and uh let’s go uh let’s go up
ahead and see where uh where I’m going
to what I’m going to come across but I
also do I am very active uh on Reddit
forum and uh Trip Advisor
Forum
um but I never uh I never
um promote my channels there I just uh
provide
information I
uh answer Travelers questions and just I
just volunteer to to answer people’s
questions because I also use that uh the
the subreddits and the forums also to
get information from from The Travelers
if if I do have a question because I
know that who whoever is answering my
question has
no incentives whatsoever to sell me
anything so I know that they are
providing information without expecting
anything uh out of me you know so that
is why I like uh I like to use the
forums and
uh it doesn’t go any further
I also read that there are two
statues uh one was given by uh by the
Italian uh dictator at the time before
World War II and by the
Nazi there are two statues somewhere
here but I don’t know where and
unfortunately they don’t have um uh I
think I can just walk
down
um I don’t like to walk through two but
uh but let’s uh let’s keep
going the the problem is that they have
science in Japanese I have no um I don’t
understand
Japanese and I am so lazy to just use
Google Translate all the time just to CU
Google translator app has the camera
feature where you just point a camera at
the Japanese character and then it will
translate uh that to English but it
becomes uh a project in itself to do to
do this all the time I get tired after a
while you know I use it only when I go
to the restaurant um when the menu is
all in
Japanese and by the way eating at the
restaurants is a project in itself I
mean uh as far as ordering stuff and
because they don’t speak any English and
the menu is not in English
and um especially if you are in U away
from the uh major cities such as this
one you know uh away from Tokyo so you
will find more people who are who don’t
speak English at all and I don’t blame
them I am in their country I’m supposed
to learn English I mean um Japanese and
I do my best I to help them I use my
Google Translate
to to help them uh understand what I am
trying to
order and uh the
trail I guess ends here and I do see uh
this beautiful view right right
here and uh this area is actually is
beautiful if you um rent a
car which I am really tempted by the way
to rent a car but uh but I’m not sure
because uh there is a beautiful mountain
around this region that I don’t think a
train will um will be a good idea to
let’s go walk I mean it’s
beautiful beautiful uh walk up up there
but the only thing that bothers me um
that uh that keeps me from U renting a
car here in Japan they they they drive
on the left side of the road which is
totally different from what I am
accustom too I am uh I came from the
US and I grew up uh in a country that
also drives on the right side of the
road like the US system so it’s very
hard for me to switch now to drive on
the left side of the road and that is
what makes me a little bit nervous but
if they drive on the right side of the
road like uh the way they drive in the
US then definitely without a doubt I
would be renting a car by now
I have uh everything set up I already
have the uh the
international uh driver
license um in addition to the US driver
license because they don’t recognize
your country driver
license without the uh the they call it
International Drive driving permit not
driver license driving permit and if you
are from the US you get that from trible
a um agency that’s the only agency that
issues um an international driving
permit if you are from the US but your
us driver license by itself is not going
to it’s not going to cut it so you have
to uh to get that if you
are if you’re planning on driving in
Japan and if uh driving on the left side
of the road doesn’t bother you then it’s
fine so if you are from the UK or if you
are from uh
Australia or New
Zealand or any country like for example
Thailand also they drive on the left
side of the road then uh Driving in
Japan will not be something new to you
so uh I guess the trail goes all the way
down but uh I guess I’m going to head
back and see what else I’m I’m going to
explore let’s
go see I said earlier that they have a
funicular actually it’s not a funicular
it’s an
escalator I’m not sure if it’s free or
not but instead of going down now I’m
going to go to a beautiful uh uh Pagoda
and Shrine around this area the lady at
the uh coffee shop told me go this
way she was trying to help me she was a
little bit struggling with her
explanation
but
uh but I really uh appreciate their
efforts no matter how much
uh they they’re they struggle as far as
uh speaking English uh I do understand
them
completely and I guess this is the first
uh
Shrine along the
way and there is no shortage of
uh of what of coffee
shops in case uh you want to drink
coffee shop I mean drink coffee not
coffee shop you go to the coffee shop to
drink coffee you don’t drink coffee shop
so I myself struggle with English but
anyway it is what it is this is the
pagod um pagod
three story Pagoda but it looks like I I
can I can
climb I can go uh
inside but I have no desire to go inside
because I can uh get a nice
view from down there you see it’s a
beautiful uh beautiful
site and also there is a some kind of a
lake with a small waterfall
uh right uh right
there so it’s almost uh 3:30 p.m. almost
4:00 p.m. I’m not sure why it took me so
long
today I mean I woke up early 8:00 in the
morning and the reason I wake I wake up
early cuz I’m not a morning guy but I
wake up early because the hotel includes
uh breakfast very nice breakfast free
and they only have it from 7 7 to 9
so not uh from 7 to 10 like the usual
hotels in Europe but uh in Japan they
close at 9:00 in the morning and that’s
a little bit uh early for me because I
like to sleep in the morning I like to
sleep in and uh what a beautiful view
look at that it’s beautiful
uh it’s a beautiful view I can get uh a
nice view later ask somebody to give me
a
photo so I wake up early to get the uh
free breakfast because I already uh paid
for the hotel and the hotels for some
reason are
very uh cheap I’m paying for that hotel
I’m staying at ISO
wakamatsu I’m paying for about five
$57 per
night and that includes uh breakfast and
uh everything
good Wi-Fi speed and uh I’m able to
upload uh a long video
yesterday uh last night when I got in
the when I arrived but the check in um
uh at 4:00 p.m. and that is something
else that I want to mention is that um
the journey to Fukushima took me about 4
hours uh train ride from a city a town
called niik
and Nico is really beautiful town but I
always when I travel in Japan this is
something that I want to tell whoever is
watching whoever is planning to do slow
travel in Japan is that I always choose
the slow route I don’t like to take the
Shen Canon I like to take the small the
slow the slow Journey it took almost 4
hours but there is another option that
will take only 2 hours to get here but
the reason I took the slow Journey
because I enjoy the the the the the
Landscapes along the way is very Scenic
uh train ride and I captured some of
some of it and also there is no rush I
mean to to arrive in in whatever City I
am planning to go because the checkin
time for the hotel is at 4:00 p.m. so
doesn’t make sense to arrive early and
then uh put my stuff at the
hotel uh in the luggage storage and then
come back uh to check in and all that
kind of stuff it’s it’s better to
arrive um later at 3:00 p.m. at my
destination so that I check in directly
without waiting until 300
p.m. so my point is that if I take the
shenon train it will take only two hours
and then and then what I arrive at 12:
uh noon and then I have to go to the
hotel they they’re going to say it’s too
early now to check in so I have to give
them my backpack and my suitcase and I
don’t like to give them my avilable
stuff I have the laptop in it I have
everything so I don’t like
to to um to to leave my stuff at the
lobby the hotel lobby it’s not
safe and it’s not all always safe I mean
it is actually safe in Japan but it’s
always better to air on the side of
caution you know so that is why I am not
in rush but if you
are uh traveling
um on a very uh short
trip and you want to jump from one city
to the next and you only have one night
to explore the city then my style my
Approach will not work for you in this
case you will have to to take the uh the
shin Canen because you will arrive in
Fukushima early in the
morning and then you put your luggage at
the storage or at the lobby for your
hotel and then you go explore the
town and then you come back to the hotel
at night to check in and then uh you
sleep one night at the hotel and then
you leave the following day that is if
you’re traveling um very fast uh jumping
from one place to the next but that is
not my style anymore I like to take my
time I’m I’m staying here for 5 days I
have I there is no rush to uh to uh to
to seee so much stuff in one in one day
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all right I get to an area called
higashiyama
onen it’s a hot spring
Resort that I have no idea what’s going
to look
like
but I guess it offers beautiful
view as I can
see but I’m not sure if I if I have to
be a hotel gust to
be to be in this particular
area what I’m trying to do is to walk
along uh this uh
Trail and see maybe they can
uh allow me to go to go that way and
it’s I saw it on the U on Google Images
I just typed things to do in uh
ISO
wakamatsu and this place popped up so
I’m trying to wrap up uh the video but I
still the sun is still up I said okay I
don’t want to to go to the hotels too
early and uh and I said okay let’s check
out this this
place and I really like uh this uh
season it’s really beautiful but the
problem
is the allergy if you have an allergy
then uh spring allergy you might be
sneezing a lot because a lot of people
sneeze around this time I noticed I’m
not the only one but the The View right
here is such a stunning right here and I
am uh it looks like I am by myself and I
don’t have to be u a gust in any of this
hotel it’s open I thought it’s only um
it’s a reserved area private area or
something like
that but uh I was hoping
that I would get uh I will see some um
shops or coffee shops or
restaurants cuz it’s already 5:00 p.m.
it’s close to dinner time I take my
dinner I eat dinner
early as usual because
I I came from the US and in the US we
eat uh dinner around 6:00
p.m. but uh it’s really beautiful
area it really is
and let’s keep uh let’s keep
going but the primary objective for
visiting U
ISO
wakamatsu in Fukushima is actually to go
to a beautiful Village that is a little
bit far from
here that is a little bit also
challenging to get
there and I will figure out how to get
there
tomorrow
wow it’s
uh it’s really
beautiful it really is the uh the bus
system that uh I am using the 600 Yen
for the the day
pass the uh they’re not frequent so it
took me
almost an hour just waiting for the bus
because it was my mistake I took the
wrong one and then I had to get off the
bus and then I had to wait an hour just
for the for the next for the correct bus
to take me to this
area so I’m supposed I was supposed to
get to this area it it should take only
10 minutes but because of my stupid
mistake it ended up an hour just to get
here and now I’m not sure if there is
still a bus to go back back to the
hotel if not then I’ll have
to either walk it
walk or take the
um take what take a
taxi and obviously uh the the trail
keeps uh keeps going uh right right
there and I did see a lot of people
people getting off the bus with their uh
suitcase and
bags so
they’re
staying in one of those uh hotels I
guess but it’s not
uh it’s not a good uh idea to stay here
because it’s not close to the uh bus
station to the to the main bus station
and the train station so the location
that I am staying at is actually better
because it gives me access
to whatever
area I would like to go to I am in the
center of the
town and also gives me access to the
train that will take me to that remote
Village that you will see probably in
one of the next
videos so I’m really trying to
go uh toward that direction there is a
sign there says that I can go there
let’s let’s figure
out it’s really
beautiful and
uh I am trying to
film this area
before um I mean I was I was planning
actually to come back tomorrow to film
this area but tomorrow is going to be um
it’s going to rain tomorrow so I said
okay let’s finish
this
today before the rain uh starts and
unfortunately it’s
blocked I was hoping that I would get uh
I would walk to that beautiful area
right there but it looks like this is
the area where the hotel residents
probably have access to
and uh that is my
guess
so all
right for sure you will see beautiful
things in the next uh videos for sure
for now have a wonderful day and enjoy
this View for the last for the last uh
moment in this uh
video wow
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