As our taxi driver missed the entrance and proceeded to do a U-turn in the middle of the road, I thought the gorgeous fall colors enveloping the highway around us might have mesmerized him, but I quickly realize he completely missed the turn that took us to the Tsurunoyu Onsen. We circled back around and turned down a non-descript dirt road with a small sign written in Japanese that even our locally born taxi driver didn?t catch. He nodded and said ?daijobu,? or something to the effect that we?re ok and now on the right path towards the famed onsen nestled at the base of Mt. Nyuto-zan in the Towada Hachimantai National Park.
I?ve never traveled in the Akita Prefecture before and only knew the Tohoku region as the area that was struck by the devastating 2011 tsunami. As an American tourist who has visited Japan numerous times, getting away from the hustle of Tokyo can be rewarding but most Western tourists rarely leave the capital and tend to travel exclusively to Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and a few other major cities south. Yet a trip north into the Tohoku region allows travelers experience the real Japanese countryside, the heart of authentic Japan. Skyscrapers give way to endless emerald green rice fields, majestic mountain views, and a Japanese friendliness that escapes those who live in the big cities.
We left Tokyo taking a three-hour trip north on the Shinkansen train from Tokyo Station to Akita. The bullet fast train dropped us off at Tazawako Station but we were still a...