Higashitsugaru

8:30 | Aomori Station Aomori has been under heavy snow warnings for the past few days, and I thought the tour would be canceled, but thankfully it did. There were about four or five buses together, each with one driver and eight passengers, and we departed on time from the west exit plaza of Aomori Station. 9:50 | Arrived at the Hakkoda Mountain Ropeway Due to weather conditions, the ropeway was closed, so we could only browse the shops for about 15 minutes before heading to the next stop. 11:10 | Arrived at the Oirase Keiryukan + Yusuikan This is a relatively large shop (Yusuikan) selling apple pies, desserts, ice cream, and many more souvenirs. The special activity "Making Moss Stones" seems to be here (not sure), but it's not included in the itinerary. We stayed here for about 40 minutes before heading to the next stop. 12:00-13:00 | Chasing waterfalls along the Oirase Stream Along the Oirase Creek towards Lake Towada, the bus stops at locations with views of waterfalls or streams and suitable for taking photos, about five times in total. Each stop lasts about 5-10 minutes for photos. The tour guide is very helpful in taking pictures. 13:20-14:30 | Lunch + Shrine near Lake Towada: The tour guide mentioned that there is only one restaurant nearby (it looked like another restaurant, but since the tour guide mentioned it, we didn't investigate further), so everyone ate there. Unfortunately, we were seated later, and it took some time to order and for the food to be served. The food was good but a bit pricey. Due to time constraints, we didn't have time to visit the shrine after lunch. If this part of the tour is included, we might visit the shrine first (although I don't know what the shrine looks like). 15:10 | Arrived at the last photo spot, a stream viewpoint, the last photo spot before driving back to Aomori Station. The tour guide was still enthusiastic about taking photos. 17:50 | Arrived safely and smoothly at the meeting point at the east exit of Aomori Station, and the tour ended for the day. 👨🏻‍✈️ Tour Guide/Driver | Kanazawa-san: A very responsible and polite tour guide/driver. He enthusiastically guided us throughout the trip and proactively helped with taking photos (I won't ask for much in terms of his skills (⁎⁍̴̛ᴗ⁍̴̛⁎), but he took the group photo). He even cracked jokes and used a translation tool to communicate with us. He repeatedly informed us, apologized, and thanked us even when the departure point was changed from the west exit to the east exit (due to traffic congestion). I give him many stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️