Our first “mainland” Japanese whs in our Japanese quest July '23 was Shirakami-Sanchi. The shinkansen took us from Hokkaido to Aomori Honshu and a local train further on to Hirosaki where we picked up a rental car and then spent the night. The next morning, we drove the 40-50 min to Shirakami-Sanchi Information Centre near Aqua Village Anmon. The map shows that road 28 could take us somehow into the core zone if we just went far enough, but we assumed correctly that driving was impossible. Road 28 has been totally closed since 2020 – probably due to avalanches and broken-down bridges. The remaining option was the hike to Anmon Falls.

At the beginning of the hike there is a nice plaque- For our Anmon Falls hike we passed a kiosk to register, and the guys insisted we needed helmets. It was to protect us from falling rocks. The path, in the beginning was more like a narrow road, but narrowed more along the way. We were at the bottom of a gorge or canyon with steep sides covered in lush green vegetation. The path started along a wide river which in time narrowed as well.

As the path got steeper and narrower – and even slippery with snow on the edges - the river current got stronger and soon we were crossing the small rapids on “homemade transitions”. The first waterfall we met was simply called Waterfall #3. A steep set of stairs took us to Waterfall #2, but Waterfall #1 was inaccessible. Anyway Waterfall #2 was a nice waterfall and we made us a good photo session before returning.

Coming down from the steep section we could choose an alternative return route through a beech forest, so we did. We climbed up another hillside and entered what was called “The World Heritage Beech Forest Trail. The hike to the Anmon Falls and the Beech trail took us about 3 hours.

While we were there

Our night before – in Hirosaki – we visited Hirosaki Castle. Although it is no whs it is a castle from the EDO era. It is a nice area with great gates, gardens with ponds and a traditional castle building, but significant smaller then Hikone-jo and Himeji-jo. Just outside the castle area there is a Samurai village.

Leaving Shirakami-Sanchi we had time for one more “stunt” so we decided to go to Mount Iwaki. It’s a little detour on the return trip, but it should be possible. As we came up closer to the mountain, we found the road “a bit windy”. It’s 69 turns on the way up! The road doesn’t take you all the way to the top, but there is a lift taking you the last bit up. The fog was clinging to the top as we arrived, so it was kind of hard to decide if we wanted to go to the top and maybe see nothing, but that solved itself. The lift was running, but just for testing. The crew told us that today is a holiday, thus closed!

Back in Hirosaki we took the local train back to Aomori then Shinkansen direction Hiraizumi.

### Randi & Svein Elias