Aomori

Aomori is not as busy as it once was, before the train tunnel linked Honshu and Hokkaido, and there's not experience—except for extraordinary weather. Over 35 feet of snowfall annually is typical. Year-round, you can enjoy delicious seafood, fruit, and vegetables, and come every summer, they cut loose to throw the decidedly wild Nebuta Matsuri festival, a frenzied, utterly unaccountable period when normal gets thrown to the wind.