I was lucky enough to win a “Dokokani Byun!” train ticket and landed a trip to Akita! It was a 4-day journey filled with both excitement and a bit of anxiety. With Akita receiving twice as much snow as usual this year, I kept wondering: “Will the kids have fun in the snow, or will it be too cold for them to play?”
Being my first time there, I initially felt lost about where to go. Should we visit Lake Tazawa? The Yokote Kamakura (snow huts)? Or the Namahage festivals? I soon realized that most winter events don’t start until mid-February, and Lake Tazawa was much further from Akita City than I thought. So, I decided to focus our trip on Akita City and the Oga Peninsula, making snow play and train rides the heart of our adventure.
Some locals told us that Oga is best in the summer, but we found it absolutely breathtaking in the winter. It was such a wonderful place that it already has us wanting to go back again next winter.
Appendix
“Dokokani Byun!” is a unique “mystery destination” ticket system offered by JR East. You choose your preferred travel dates and starting station, and the system presents four potential destinations in the Tohoku or Hokuriku regions. Once you apply, the system randomly selects one of those four locations for your round-trip Shinkansen (bullet train) journey. It needs JPE point and register Eki-net. Since this service looks lilke primarily designed for residents of Japan, it might be a bit challenging for international tourists to use.
To get from Tokyo to Akita, you’ll take the Tohoku Shinkansen. This line is managed by JR East. You can find the standard way to purchase tickets here
https://www.jreast.co.jp/en/multi/pass/purchase.html (JR EAST Home Page)
If you’re planning to travel for several days, there are also great discount passes available like this!
https://www.jreast.co.jp/en/multi/pass/eastpass_t.html (JR EAST Home Page)