Current Time in Morioka, Japan

Morioka is the capital of Iwate Prefecture in the Tohoku region of northern Honshu, built where three rivers, the Kitakami, the Shizukuishi and the Nakatsu, come together in a broad mountain basin. The volcanic cone of Mount Iwate, often called the Fuji of the north, rises to the northwest and dominates the skyline on clear days. Winters are long and snowy, summers pleasantly warm, and the surrounding hills turn spectacular colours in autumn.

About two hundred and eighty five thousand people live in the city, which serves as the administrative and commercial centre of a large and thinly populated prefecture. Morioka came to international attention when a major American newspaper named it among the best places in the world to visit in 2023, praising it as a walkable city of old buildings, coffee houses and mountain air that had escaped mass tourism.

The town grew around the castle of the Nanbu clan, built at the beginning of the seventeenth century on a rocky bluff above the Kitakami. The keep was dismantled after the Meiji Restoration, but the massive stone walls survive within Iwate Park, which is one of the finest places in the region for cherry blossom. The surrounding streets preserve merchant storehouses, an old bank building in western style and a number of traditional shops, and the willow lined banks of the Nakatsu River give the centre a gentle character.

The best known natural monument is the Ishiwarizakura, a cherry tree several centuries old that has grown out of a split in a large granite boulder, cracking the rock as it thickened. Morioka is also famous for craftsmanship, above all Nanbu ironware, the heavy cast iron kettles and teapots whose making has been carried on here for four hundred years and which are exported worldwide.

Food is a particular pleasure. The city is celebrated for three noodle dishes: wanko soba, served in a rapid succession of tiny bowls that a waiter refills until the diner surrenders, reimen, a chewy cold noodle dish of Korean origin adapted locally, and jajamen, flat noodles with a rich miso and meat sauce. The Sansa Odori festival in early August fills the streets with thousands of drummers and dancers and holds a record for the largest number of Japanese drums played together, while the Chagu Chagu Umakko procession in June parades decorated horses through the countryside.

Morioka Station is served by the Tohoku Shinkansen, placing Tokyo little more than two hours away, and it is the junction for lines to Akita and to the Sanriku coast. Buses and a loop service cover the compact centre, which is easily explored on foot.

Iwate University and several colleges give the city an academic role, and the region is proud of its literary heritage through the poet Ishikawa Takuboku and the writer Miyazawa Kenji, both closely associated with Iwate.

Morioka appeals to visitors for its unhurried atmosphere, its castle park, its crafts and its position as a base for the mountains, hot springs and coastline of northern Japan.