japan’s hidden samurai town 🌸 | exploring historic kakunodate

japan’s hidden samurai town 🌸 | exploring historic kakunodate

[Music] hi everyone my name is martina and today we are traveling to another perfeure which is akita i really want to visit all of the perfeures so let’s do this in akita we want to visit a popular tourist destination especially during cherry blossom time which is kakunodate you may ask why it’s famous well it’s the home of many samurai houses that you can visit to this day we started our journey from sai and this whole train ride only took 1 hour 30 minutes with the shinkansen it was a very convenient direct connection the main station there were still many people but the further we walked to get to the samurai district the less people we saw i joked to kevin that we will probably be the only western tourists here but oh god i was so wrong many cruise ships come to visit this place so we heard a lot of french german and english while being here i was so surprised when you reach the city center there is a law and a super cute souvenir shop with akita plushies and the best part is this pudding store i really love pudding in japan so of course we had to try it and it was so delicious [Music] now it was about time to head to the samurai district it was very green and there was a long street filled with houses souvenir stores and restaurants our first stop was the odano samurai house it is free and offers you a first glimpse of one of those traditional houses the next one the cavarada samurai house is free as well and i really love that you could visit this beautiful garden in there they also shared some information about its history which i really liked so that you knew a little bit more about the backstory of this house among our way we found this souvenir store called satoku garden which offered some of the most beautiful items i ever saw during my trips in japan there’s also a little archive museum that stores the model of the city and shows different movies to promote okita perfeure right next to it you can find a cute store that focuses on cats the owner truly is living my life i was so tempted to buy something here as everything was so adorable since this town is famous for cherry bark woodcraft you can pay this museum a visit and learn more about it i think they even offer workshops it look quite close when we came so we only appreciated the beautiful building haven’t found this liquor store that let you try out their sake and of course he bought something as well he always does this this is like his favorite souvenir when we go to japan and now let’s visit my favorite samurai house which was the ayagi one this one cost 500 yen to enter but it offers so much i think if i only had the time to visit one of the houses i would go for that one it displays weapons that you can even hold art various showrooms with different topics a beautiful garden with a rest area and a little shrine you spend quite some time in here and explore different areas and it was so interactive as well so come to this place if you’re here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for late lunch we found hirochi during lunchtime the restaurants are very crowded so we waited a little bit before going to eat something they offer a special hot pot with pressed rice and this pressed rice is famous in aikita it was very delicious and i love that we could sit outside and it wasn’t that crowded anymore first it was dessert time afterwards and we found this cute store that was a bit expensive but we got some chestnut items that we ate later in the hotel but i can tell you they were really good [Music] and since we visited most of the spots that we wanted to see we headed to sakura maro coffee which reminded me a little bit of gilmore girls is it just me we got a coffee and cake and rested a little bit since it was late most of the cruise ships already left so if you come here in the afternoon you will have this whole area to yourself you can stroll around next to the river and i can’t even imagine how beautiful this place must be during hanami so many cherry blossom trees and weeping cherry blossoms as well i think i have to add this to my bucket list like coming here during cherry blossom time i really love this place it was so peaceful green and very traditional and i was a bit sad to head back to the train station and hop on our shinkansen what do you think would you come to kakonate thank you so so much for watching this video i hope you liked it if you did feel free to leave a comment to subscribe or like it as i would really appreciate it and see you for the next video where we take the pokémon train i hope you’re as excited as i am bye-bye

🌸 kakunodates samurai district and old town 🌸
✿ Step into the past in Kakunodate, Akita’s beautifully preserved samurai town. In this video, we explore traditional samurai houses, wander through peaceful streets lined with Edo-era architecture, and discover local crafts like cherry bark woodwork. We also taste regional sweets and visit a cat café! Join me on this relaxing journey through one of Tohoku’s most underrated cultural gems. #japantravel #japanvlog #japanlife

✿ my name is mateeny, I’ve been to japan for multiple times and even studied a semester there. I share my experiences so that you can have a perfect vacation ✿

✿ spots & timeline
Kodawarikura Souvenir Store – 01:10
https://maps.app.goo.gl/2L1SbDTFU4Mf93mn6

Pudding Store – 01:30
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ngTfixa1mQd4YCD2A

Odano-ke Samurai House – 02:20
https://maps.app.goo.gl/j8WtEfQZH6UQy4NAA

Kawarada-ke Samurai House- 02:40
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pgjHAmumxnMbeT8U9

Satoku Garden – 3:30
https://maps.app.goo.gl/87ckXsHxPnLSHTc1A

Denkengun Kanri Jimusho Museum – 04:10
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3ywp5gkrbYHztiQH6

Neko no mise – 04:30
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Av8S1mwJAQ2EPgTp9

Iwahashi-ke Samurai House 04:50
https://maps.app.goo.gl/iBb3ncuzESjErnMp7

Kakunodate Cherry Bark Woodcraft Museum – 05:10
https://maps.app.goo.gl/9zphPAmvB7PYC86BA

樹の下や よしなり – 05:25
https://maps.app.goo.gl/usaCaMBFUwaAqSVT9

Aoyagi Samurai House – 05:40
https://maps.app.goo.gl/meYRRDzeDd2wKYHD6

Hirauchi-Udon Marukawa – 07:30
https://maps.app.goo.gl/PJ41TN2wpMVQsg9D6

Kurakichi Sweets Store – 08:15
https://maps.app.goo.gl/7DWd1WuKTQxScFxs5

Sakuramaru Coffee – 08:35
https://maps.app.goo.gl/H9NAXUcccVxUswZB7

✿socials
https://linktr.ee/its.mateeny

✿ music
@oneul274

@demongummies

“Nikos Spiliotis – Helen 2” is under a Free To Use YouTube license
Music powered by BreakingCopyright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig2LiJBriR4

✿ thumbnail credits
Kakunodate by Sek Keung Lo

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