Morioka, Iwate: Japan’s Coolest Small Hidden City You Must Visit

Morioka, Iwate: Japan’s Coolest Small Hidden City You Must Visit

All right. Like many people, I’ve always wanted 
to visit Japan. My mom is actually Japanese, but I didn’t get to travel much as a kid. 
Recently, I did go to Tokyo, and that’s where I came from just now. Tokyo, Japan in general, 
has become a really popular destination because the economy has not grown much in the past 20 
or 30 years. Therefore, a lot of people find it attractive to come to Japan because against 
the US dollar or the euro, it is a generally affordable vacation after you pay for the flight, 
which is the most expensive thing. But now, let’s talk about where I am. I am in Morioa. 
Moroka is the capital of Iwattate Prefecture. Iwate Prefecture sits inside Tohoku. 
Tohoku is the northern region of Honshu. When I was telling people in Tokyo that I would 
be going to Iwattate to even tohoku, they had no idea what I was talking about. Only about 1% of 
tourists that come to Japan go to Tohoku, which is the northern region of Honchu. Even if 
people go to other places that are less touristed than Tokyo, like Hokkaido for example, they still 
skip the northern part of Honshu. It is the least touristed place in Japan. But this is the capital, 
Moroka, a small town by Japanese standards. It has a population of 283,000 people. Right now, I’m 
standing next to the Kitakami River. As you can see, it is a very picturesque small city, but it 
has a lot of life and a lot to offer. And this is what I’ll be exploring today. In addition, 
you can’t miss. I’ll zoom in on that later. So, another reason why I wanted to visit Moroka. 
This is actually where my mother went to college. She is from the Uate Prefecture. She is from 
Hanamaki. That is where the famous LA Dodgers baseball player Show Otani is from. So, I’m 
going to go there tomorrow. It’s less of a city vibe. It’s more of an actual small town village. 
That’s where my mother’s from. But in general, this part of Japan is my ancestral homeland. So, 
that’s why I’m here as well. So, a friend I made in Sendai had told me that there’s an unmissable 
view. A view I’m going to go to see the sunset in Moroka that you can’t miss. So, I’m going to 
take the bus there. I’ll see you there and we’ll see the sunset together. It’s worth mentioning 
that Morioco was listed in the New York Times in 2023 as one of the 52 coolest places to visit in 
the world after London. And it’s not a ranking, but it was on the list and it became after London. 
And it’s also worth mentioning that even today after that article, the majority of other tourists 
here are Japanese people, not Western tourists. So, I just arrived to the neighborhood where the 
observatory where the view is. I got to say that this is also a mountainous town, a mountainous 
city. It kind of reminds me of Asheville, North Carolina. That’s where I went to college. 
And Asheville is also a medium-sized city or a small city in the United States. It’s in 
the mountains, but it has a lot of life. And on another note, in some kind of funny way, it 
makes me think of Wajaka in Mexico a little bit. because the buses here are very small. They’re 
very old. They don’t look modern at all like the ones in Tokyo. It’s very different. All right, 
y’all. So, we made it. We are at an observatory where you can see the whole city. It’s pretty 
incredible. To my surprise, there’s nobody here, but there’s different observation decks. So, 
that might mean there are more popular ones where people are out with their family or with 
their loved ones doing this thing. By the way, totally worth it to come up here for the view. 
If you’ve ever been to a mountainous country, have climbed the hills, you know what it’s like 
when you’re up there and you can see the city, you can see the birds. It’s incredible. All right, so I just came down from the 
observatory. It was a beautiful view. And now I’m ready to eat. Originally, I wanted to get 
some Wanco soba. If you don’t know what that is, it’s an Ewatt tradition where they bring you 
anywhere from one to a,000 soba bowls to see if you can eat them all. Basically, you pay 
a fixed price and then you eat as much soba as you can. However, unfortunately, 
I’m a little bit too late today, so I’m going to have to eat something else. I’m 
going to try again tomorrow, but I will go to this restaurant and see what they got going on and try 
the food over there anyway cuz I’m hungry as hell. Heat. Heat. All right. So, right now we’re in 
Barag Moroka and we are with the owner Sanjudades. So Roy, okay. How long have you owned this 
bar and how do you come up with the idea? It’s really cool that people can come 
here and play and be part of the concert. Was that the original idea? Do you think people should visit Moroka and why? local food. I’ll have to try that. It sounds good. All right. Thank you for 
Thank you for the interview. So today I’m going to Hanaki. It is 
about 1 hour on the local train away from Moroka City. So going there for 
a local traditional festival and we’re going to see what it’s like. All right. Now I 
have arrived to Hanamaki. This is my mother’s hometown. This is small town Japan. It is 
as small as it gets. This is also the home of show Otani. This is where he’s from. 
So the famous baseball player LA Dodgers. All right. So I took a little detour in the 
town of Hanamaki. On the way to the festival, I found a little underground skate park. I’ll 
show you the video. It’ll be in this clip. And I used to skateboard when I was younger and 
well hung over and also being 31 years old, it hurts a little bit more, but I still got 
the tricks. But right now, I’m in a food hall, the Marukan food hall. And this is where the 
local Japanese people here come. They eat, socialize with their friends. I’m going to 
show you what the ramen looks like. It’s uh unique to this area. It It’s not like 
the same as Tokyo ramen. So, let’s go. As you can see, the broth is very thick. 
This is not the typical ramen that you see in the United States or even in Tokyo. It’s a 
little bit different, but it looks delicious. So, what my mom really wanted me to see 
in Hanamaki is the deer dance. You know, it’s a very famous local tradition. 
As you can see behind me, people are getting ready to do this traditional 
dance. So, soon maybe in 5 minutes, we will see this deer dance and we’ll 
see how it is. All right. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. All right. So, I got to say that the deer dance 
is really cool. Better than I expected. I really didn’t know what to expect. And I’m not always 
like a super fan of seeing these traditional things. I mean, I like seeing them, but do I 
really enjoy it like I would if it was a modern concert? But really, some of the drums, some 
of the beats they were doing were things that you would really want to dance to. Even though 
most of the people are just there watching and standing, you know, it’s something very um 
traditional in Japan. But the music itself, I could imagine someone could sample that for 
a rap song or something like that. Some of the rhythms that they were playing. Definitely if 
you ever come to Iwattate I recommend it. If you come to Iwattate in September that is 
when they have uh the festival or you can also check for other festivals and when 
they have them. All right see y’all more. So I came to this restaurant because they serve 
jaja. This is a local dish in Moroka and it’s specific to this region. I think there is 
some mixture between Chinese and Japanese culture that created this dish. This business 
is over 70 years old and currently the owner is your grandfather, right? So his 
grandfather started the business and um yeah and now he’s running it. And there’s a 
lot of little shops like this in Moroka. Moroka is a place where big chains don’t really exist 
unless you’re at the shopping mall. So you won’t be walking around and see a Starbucks really. 
But maybe I might be wrong. You never know. Uh, Nandeska Nandeska. Mazongi oil vinegar. Mix mix. Okay. Okay. All right. So, right now I am in study. Jamaican oldies bar 
study. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. So this Okay. Okay. How long have you been working here? Maji Really? You’ve worked here 17 years? What do you think everyone 
should do when they visit Moroka? That’s an in. So, what are the cool places to go in Moroka? Uh, 
have a night out, do a little bit of drinking, maybe a little bit of dancing. What are the 
cool places? Yeah. Okay. And where else? Music club. Many clubs. Three club. What is your favorite genre of music? Ree artist Ichibanski son Sanito. Three people. Tell me three 
people that you really like a lot. But you can come here and enjoy some rea 
music. Enjoy some rum. And they play pretty good music in general. Like before 
the rea playing right now, they’re playing um they were playing some salsa and it wasn’t 
like Mark Anthony. He was like Ruben Blades or something. I don’t remember if that’s 
his name, but this Panameanian salero. So, you know what I mean? That kind of hardcore like 
ecto like type salsa. So, one thing I’ve noticed about Japanese people is I think they really 
love music. Okay. What is your favorite food? Anywhere. Anywhere. What type? What type? Showy ramen. Showy ramen. 
Okay. I ended up taking Shima’s suggestion and I went to crates and to my surprise, I 
thought it was only going to be a DJ party, but there was also a rap show and it was fun. 
Super fun and definitely not something that I expected in a small city like Moroka. So both 
Hanamaki and Moryoka both in September have the seasonal autumn festivals. Right now I am 
in Moroka in Hachimangu shrine. And as you can see there’s a lot of people just celebrating the 
holiday. You can hear the music in the background, the traditional Japanese music. So definitely 
it’s something unique. Each year in September, Moroka celebrates the autumn festival, the Moroka 
Aki Matsuri. Aki literally means fall. So they celebrate and they welcome the changing of the 
seasons. And every year between September 13th and 16th, they start at the Hachimangu shrine as 
seen in the video and parade through the streets. Oh, I know. Hey. So, I’m not going to lie, Tokyo is cool as 
hell, but being here in Iwattate, being here where my mom was, from is the first time that I’m 
actually a little bit emotional being in Japan. Not just the people, not just the vibe that 
it’s smaller, but also seeing the traditional festival. It really moved me and I didn’t think it 
would, but it did. It really did. And I’m really happy I came here. You know, I’m not going 
to tell you that you have to go to Iwattate, but if you want to go somewhere in Japan where 
it is Japan and there’s no other tourists, maybe you see one other traveler like once a day, come 
to Moroka. So, at the beginning of this video, I’d mentioned that it seemed like Moroka has a 
little bit of a youthful energy. We all know about Japan and the declining population, right? And a 
lot of people on Instagram will say things like, “I’ve never seen children in Japan.” But 
something that I really noticed is I see families everywhere, young families, people in their 
early 30s walking around with their children. So, the city has a real charm. I’m walking 
through the little downtown area right now and they’re playing great game music. 
It’s pretty funny, man. But yeah, I don’t know. It’s pretty chill. You know what 
I mean? People just walk with their families, riding bikes, eating food. It’s a good vibe. Okay. Okay. Okay. That’s what as opportun Okay. Okay. Prepares tacos carneas. Tokyo. National and happiness. Happiness. So, I know they’re technically not from Moroka, 
but they do have their origins in Fukushima, which is part of Tohoku, which is the same region 
of Japan. But more than anything, I have lived in Mexico for a little bit. I was too excited to 
meet Japanese Mexicans who had been in Mexico for generations and had returned to Japan and 
thought it was an interesting story to highlight. I hope that you all enjoyed it as well. I had 
said before that, you know, y’all don’t have to come to U. Y’all don’t have to come to Moroka. But 
you know what? I do change my mind a little bit. I really think it’s worth it to come here 
because for a side for a city of its size, it is super alive and it is a vibe. Y’all should 
come to Moroka. But what do y’all think about Moroka? Should people come to visit? There’s not 
a lot of tourists here. Yes. No. All right. So, I’ve been trying to get Wanco sober for about 
three days and every single time they’ve been booked every single time. Like, it’s pretty 
crazy. But I finally got me a little ticket. Now, I’m waiting for my seat and I’ll get some Wancoa. 
This is something that you have to do if you come to Morioa. If you go to Morioa and you have not 
eaten Wancoa, people probably ask you to Morioa. I got my chopstick skills are 
trash. So, it’s a little hard. At the end of the day, I didn’t end up eating like 
that much just because they keep like throwing the food in your face. I know that sounds like a 
good idea. It sound like something really cool, but like at the same time it’s like you 
can’t stop eating. You know what I mean? So it’s like I can eat a lot, but like 
you can’t take any breaks at all. It’s uh kind of like a food professional sport. There 
were people in there though. They were killing it, man. Like I don’t even know. They had 
like hundreds of bowls that they finished. I got to overall say it was a great trip to Moroka 
to Iwattate to go to Hanamaki where my mom’s from. And by the way, I’m in Sappo right now. So I’m 
not I’m not in Moroka, but I had to keep moving. So I’m doing the reflecting after. But in general, 
it’s a city where I felt like there was a lot of involvement of the young people. Maybe it’s not 
as young as it looks because it was basically Aki Matsuri, which is the fall festival, but it 
seemed like young people were very involved there. That was something really cool to see. And I 
know I couldn’t include everyone in my video in the interviews because I asked a lot of the 
same questions. But yeah, shout out Bar Steady, shout out Bar Moroka, Bar Rag Moroka, shout out 
Dragon Cafe. Dragon Cafe. Yeah, shout out to them. bar crates and all other people I talked to. 
All right, thanks for watching this documentary, this vlog vlogumentary, whatever. 
This is my journey in Japan. Peace.

In 2023, The New York Times named Morioka, Iwate one of the 52 Places to Visit in the World — ranking it right after London. While it wasn’t officially a ranking, the editors prioritized Morioka’s visibility, shining a spotlight on this underrated Japanese city.

For me, this trip was personal: my mother is from Morioka, and visiting the region of my ancestors was both a homecoming and a chance to see what the global hype was about.

🌸 Morioka is still far from over-touristed, making it a destination full of charm, authenticity, and good vibes. From cozy cafés to lively bars, here are a few spots I loved:

🍸 Bar Rag Morioka
☕ Dragon Café
🎶 Music + Bar + Crates

👉 If you’re looking for a less-traveled Japan destination with history, culture, and soul, Morioka might surprise you.

#Morioka #Iwate #JapanTravel #HiddenJapan #TravelVlog