Aomori Spring Ski Resort

Admission gets you a knife, a basket, and permission to eat as much fruit as you want straight from the orchards. It's an additional cost to take fruit home. They grow raspberries, peaches, cherries, plums, strawberries, grapes, pears, walnuts, and others.... but no apples. The fruits in season are posted on the website.

A peaceful mountain shrine partway up Mt. Iwaki. You'll need to climb some stairs to get to the shrine itself. Stop into one of the neighborhood onsen baths for a soul-soothing day trip from the city.

Shop and learn about pottery made from local Kanayama mountain clay. Check out the sculptures (outside and upstairs) made by visiting artists and take a peek at the kilns. The gallery staff insists beer and even water taste better served in kanayamayaki cups. You can make your own pottery too, but it takes several months to fire. The restaurant serves everything on kanyamayaki dishes, 10:00 to 16:00 (last order is 15:00), ¥700-1150.

The rice field murals in Inakadate Village have made news around the world. See them for yourself from June to early October. There are two murals, one viewable from the tower at the village office, and the other from a tower near roadside plaza Yayoi no Sato (道の駅弥生の里). There's a shuttle between the two sites.

Hundreds of red torii gates snake through a garden at this picturesque shrine near the Sea of Japan.

Near Tairadate light house.