Akita Getting there & around

Getting there & away

There are flights from Akita’s airport south of town to Nagoya (¥25, 500, 70 minutes), Osaka (¥29, 500, 1¾ hours), Sapporo (¥22, 300, 55 minutes) and Tokyo (¥22, 100, 70 minutes). Buses run from outside JR Akita station (¥890, 40 minutes).

The JR Akita shinkansen line runs via Tazawa-ko and Kakunodate to Morioka (¥4500, 1½ hours), cutting the total travel time between Akita and Tokyo to four hours (¥16, 810). Painfully infrequent local trains chug along the Ōu line to Ōmagari, where you change to the JR Tazawa-ko line for Kakunodate (¥1280, 1½ hours) and Tazawa-ko (¥1620, 2½ hours). The JR Uetsu line connects Akita with Niigata via Sakata and Tsuruoka (tokkyū, ¥7020, 3¾ hours).

Ten buses run daily from Akita station (; Ugo Kōtsū; 863-6570) to Kakunodate (¥1330, 1½ hours) and eight daily to Tazawa-ko (¥1680, 2¼ hours). Direct night buses to Tokyo (Shinjuku) run from the Nagasakiya bus terminal via Akita station at 10pm (one way ¥9450, 8½ hours).

Shin Nihonkai (880-2600) ferries connect Akita with Niigata (¥4000, 6½ hours, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday) and Tsuruga (¥6700, 21 hours, Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday). Ferries run to Tomakomai on Hokkaidō (¥4400, 12 hours, Monday to Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) as well.

One bus daily at 6.05am runs to Akita’s port, 8km northwest of the station (¥390, 30 minutes).