Aomori ski property for sale

Spring comes late and all at once. Hirosaki Castle's cherry trees, some of the most photographed in Japan, bloom in late April or early May, and the orchards across the plain follow in white. Summer is short and bright, and early August belongs to the festivals: Aomori's Nebuta parades its giant lit paper floats through the city, and Hirosaki's Neputa does the same with fan-shaped ones. Autumn is apple harvest and some of Tohoku's best foliage in the Oirase Gorge and on Hakkoda. Winter is the main event: heavy, reliable snow from December into April, with the backcountry season on Hakkoda running long after the city has thawed.

Aomori grows most of Japan's apples, and they turn up in everything: cider, pies (Hirosaki's bakeries compete over them), juice and sweets. Mutsu Bay supplies scallops, eaten raw, grilled in the shell or simmered with miso. In Aomori city, the fish market's nokke-don lets you build a rice bowl piece by piece from the stalls, and the local ramen is a miso-curry-milk broth that sounds like a dare and tastes like a cold day's reward. Tsugaru soba, local sake, and jappa-jiru, a winter cod soup, round it out.

Snow is the first question for any house. Ask how the roof sheds it, whether it has been cleared (yukioroshi, shovelling the roof) in past winters, and where the snow from the drive can go. Many houses have a snow-melting system on the drive or a heated roof; check they work and what they cost to run. Pipes freeze in an empty house, so a second home needs draining down or heating over winter, and someone local to check on it after big storms.

Many of the cheapest houses are older timber buildings, often sold as they stand, with contents left in and repairs to do. Budget for insulation, windows and heating as well as the purchase, and look at the bank registers' own notes: they are often frank about leaks and damp. Hirosaki, Aomori city and the larger towns have shops, hospitals and schools within easy reach. The villages closer to the lifts are quieter, cheaper and harder to reach in a storm. Time the real winter drive to the resort you plan to ski before you commit.