6 Must Try Japanese Dishes in Aomori

Head to Furukawa Fish Market and grab a book of vouchers to create your own Nokkedon, a custom seafood bowl. You get your bowl of rice, then wander the market, picking out your favorite fish and toppings from various stalls. It's a fun, interactive way to enjoy the freshest seafood. I bought 15 coupons because I was hungry, but you need to be careful with your last few, like having the last hand grenades in Call of Duty! I loved the tuna, salmon, and egg. It's a fantastic, unique experience.

Try the unique Miso Curry Milk Ramen, a dish heavily influenced by Hokkaido's dairy and curry soup traditions. The soup is mildly spiced with curry, and a slice of butter melts into it, adding richness. It's not too spicy and incredibly unique – I've never seen anything like it in Japan. It's the kind of dish I'd eat every other week if I lived in Aomori City.

In Hachinohe, you absolutely must try the mackerel sushi. This city is famous for the quality of its mackerel, and this is the best way to eat it. The pieces are ridiculously thick, and the quality is so good it's 'justice good!' It's soft, succulent, and incredibly fresh. While salmon and tuna are 'level one' sushi, mackerel is 'level two' – a bit more challenging but incredibly rewarding.

Don't miss senbei jiru, or cracker soup, a staple food of the Hachinohe region. It's a simple yet comforting dish made with broken wheat crackers in a soup of fish, vegetables, or meat. It's more than just a dish; it's a case of survival. Traditionally, people in Hachinohe couldn't grow rice due to strong winter winds, so they grew wheat, leading to these crackers. It's a warm, popular dish, especially given Aomori's cold, snowy winters.

Head to Hirosaki, Aomori's apple capital, and find a restaurant within the second-largest Japanese garden in the Tohoku region. It's a stunning garden with streams and bridges, and the restaurant is in a European-style building. I ordered the apple beef curry with rice, which was a nice change after days of eating fish. Everything in Aomori seems to have apples in it – 'If you got apples... Aomori innit?'

While walking through Hirosaki, you might randomly encounter a giant tortoise being taken for an afternoon stroll by its owner. It's a bizarre and surprising sight, apparently good for the tortoise's stress relief. This particular one was a child, already weighing 40 kilograms! It's one of those exciting, surprising, bizarre things you sometimes see every day whilst walking around Japan.

Visit a restaurant in Hachinohe's Hachi-Shoku Center to try dishes featuring Aomori black garlic. This garlic has black cloves and a sweet, almost vinegary aroma. We ordered gyoza, rice, and ramen, all infused with garlic. It was very garlicky indeed! After a meal like this, you won't need to eat again for about six hours. It's a busy spot, especially on 'Uncle Holiday'!