9-10 Nov 2024. The final two stops before leaving Aomori prefecture. One cannot visit Aomori without trying its outstanding apples, and so we decided to visit Hirosaki Apple Park. Featuring over 80 varieties of apples, visitors are able to participate in apple picking group from beginning of August to mid-November. Varieties available vary depending on the season e.g. Natsumidori is available in early August, while Orin and Fuji are available in November. The picking activity itself is free and visitors will simple need to pay for what they've picked by weight (each large-ish apple is ~400-500g and the rates are 100Y/100g at the time of our visit)
Since we were there in early November, the guide took us to a group of Fuji apple trees which had the largest Fuji apples I've ever seen. They were also best apples we've had hands down and I would highly recommend eating them fresh within 1-2 days.
The visitor shop also sells a large variety of apple related products and my favourite were the biscuits omiyage and the juices (the sweet spot tends to be the mid-range-priced juices and the ones that are produced in Hirosaki/Aomori). It is not an understatement to say that the high standard of juices here have ruined me. After leaving Japan and losing access to Aomori apple juice, no other apple juice comes close to its greatness and I'm deeply saddened. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for these products from now on and I will definitely return...
We then proceeded to Hirosaki Castle where entry to the castle required a ticket. The ticket thankfully came in a bundle that allowed access to the Hirosaki Castle, Hirosaki Castle Botanical Garden and Fujita Memorial Garden. Sadly we only had 2-3 hours to cover all three and we had to speed thru them at 1.5x pace and also had to skip Tsugaru-han Neputa-mura Village, which would have been amazing to see... we will definitely return for that next time. Should you wish to cover all three gardens and the Neputa-mura Village, I would highly recommend spending 2 days and 1 night at Hirosaki as a minimum (which will give you more time to also check out the variety of cafes around offering many apple related pastries, cakes and food)
From there, we quickly drove to Juniko that is situated in Japan's first UNESCO World Heritage site - Shirakami-Sanchi Mountain Range (whose importance was recognised due to its untouched ancient beech forest is similar to the flora that would have been found in the Arctic Circle around 50 million years ago).
Juniko stands for Twelve Lakes. In reality it is actually collection of 33 small and large ponds created by the big earthquake about 300 years ago. The name "Twelve Lakes" came to be as only twelve bodies of water can be seen from Mt. Okuzure's summit.
Taking a leisurely stroll from the visitor carpark, we were able to cover a few notable lakes. Our favourites from the bunch were Aoike and Wakitsubo no ike. The blues hues amongst the forest of beech and maple were incredibly stunning in real life - to the degree that we found ourselves losing track of time just to take it in (we didn't even realise we had been at Aoike for 30mins simply taking in its beauty and also realised others were doing the same when we left)
Staying nearby at Awone Shirakami Juniko allowed us to take it easy while exploring the nearby seaside park beside Juniko station to enjoy the views of the western coast of Honshu.
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