Oirase stream

The Oirase Stream, a mountain stream that runs for about 14 kilometers from Nenokuchi,located on the shore of Lake Towada, to Yakeyama,is a scenic area that represents Japan.This beautiful stream was created by rocks and sand produced by a volcanic eruption. Amid the surrounding natural forest, the stream gradually transformed itself into a beautiful form as time went by . The trail along the stream is also known as the Waterfall Avenue due to the numerous waterfalls scattered along the stream. A walking tour with a local guide gives you opportunities to discover new charms of Oirase.

Lake Towada
Hot Spring Resort(Yakeyama)

Yakeyama Hot-Spring Resort is located at the downstream entrance to the Oirase Stream. It's convenient that you visit to Hakkoda, Lake Towada and Oirase Stream.A large number of people come here in a fresh green and colored leaves seasons.There is a ski resort, you can also enjoy in winter.

Oirase Water Museum
Oirase Stream Museum

The museum provides information on Oirase's ever-changing scenery in different seasons and ecosystems along the stream and exhibits panels to present local history and people. There is a corner for displaying local products and also a cafe counter that serves coffee brewed using Oirase natural spring water. Enjoyable events are being planned for tourists.

Tsutanuma

Tsuta Wild Bird Sanctuary, located in the Towada Hachimantai National Park, is a beech comparable in size with the world heritage site, Shirakami Mountain. There are seven lakes, known as the Tsuta Seven Lakes(Tsuta Nana Numa)(Tsutanuma, Kagaminuma, Tsukinuma, Naganuma, Suganuma, Hyoutannuma, and Akanuma), scattered in the dense primeval forest. It takes about an hour and harf to make a tour of the six lakes other than Akanuma along the Lake Tour Trail that starts from Tsuta Hot Springs. The largest of the seven lakes, Tsutanuma, which measures one kilometer in perimeter and 6 ha in area, is inhabited by a variety of sish, such as red salmon, carp, and iwana trout.

Tsuta Wild Bird Sanctuary

□Tsuta Wild Bird Sanctuary

located at the southern foot of the Hakkoda Mountains and covered by a forest
of trees with fresh green leaves, the area around Tsutanuma provides a natural
haditat for rare bird species and is desingnated as a bird sanctuaryvernment.
Government. (Tsuta Wild Bird Sanctuary)by the goTwo tails are available for
tourists:the Lake tour trail and the Wild Bird Trail that meanders throught
the beech forest. It takes about an hour to walk each of these trails.
Enjoy watching mandarin ducks in Naganuma and bright red kingfishers in
Tsutanuma on your walking tour.

□Giant beech Forest God

On the mountain side along a trail running from the outer rim of Lake
Towada toward the Oirase Stream, there is a giant beech tree that has been
worshiped as the "Forest God since ancient times. It has a trunk girth of
about six meters, which makes it the tree with the thickest trunk in Japan,
and a height of about thirty meters. It is believed that the tree has remaineed
uncut thanks to a local legend that a tree with a trunk that separates into three
branches is inhabited by spirits.It still continues to grow.

Former Kasaishi Family Residence

This house, repaired and restored to its original condition, is a typical house of a framing family in the late Edo period. It is designated by the government as an important cultural property. The stable, which is called "maya," accounts for one thir of the total area of the house, showing that horses were indispensable part of the trasitional lifestyle.

Towada Museum of
History and Folklore

Many materials that throw light on the traditional lifestyle of local communities, such as old farming tools, household utensils and clothes, are exhibited in the museum. Visitors are allowed to touch household utensils and feel the difference with the lifestyle in contemporary society.