Aomori, Aomori Prefecture
April 30, 2019
Our overnight sail due south to Aomori was not a direct one. As shown in the gps track in the first graphic, the ship must have had a scheduling issue with the port authorities in Aomori as the ship made two 360º circles in the open water between the two islands. That, or the bridge crew had a bit too much vino at dinner that night.
Although we had a nice sunny day in Hakodate, the weather turned decidedly worse for our visit to Aomori with heavy overcast and intermittent rain. We hadn’t booked any ship organized excursion for this port, and just went ashore on our own to snoop about the town.
Despite being a Tuesday, the town was very quiet with most of the shops closed because of the Golden Week holiday. The larger department store businesses were open, but the quaint, smaller shops that were of real interest, were dark. Despite this fact, we got a good impression of the town by walking the streets.
As we walked toward the town from the ocean front, we saw this great sign to direct us.
They must have low crime here in Aomori, as the police station is tiny.
One interesting observation we made is that Aomori must be relatively low in crime. Our reason for thinking this is that the police station was incredibly small, and housed in an unusual building.
When we walked by it on the way to the train station and shopping mall, we noticed that the door was locked and all the lights were out. Clearly, there was nobody on duty.
After spending the morning walking the streets and peering in windows of closed shops, we headed over to the train station and the open mall attached to it. But it was just another retail mall with the usual merchandise and people. We looked about for a short time and decided to head back to the ship. It was cold at this northern location, and the damp weather made it just that much more uncomfortable.
Arriving back at the ship on foot, it was nice to get inside out of the cold damp weather.