Japan Guide
Northern Honshū
Eating
1 Hamanoya Bekkan 4-2-11 Ōmachi 
0188/62-6611 The most famous restaurant at which to sample local dishes, located one block southeast of the Aka-renga Kyōdo-kan museum in an amazingly well-preserved old house (there's also a branch in the Hotel Metropolitan). Prices aren't too outrageous, but reservations are advisable on weekend evenings in the main restaurant. Opening time: Daily 11.30am–10pm
2 Suginoya 3F Topica Building, 7-1-2 Naka-dōri Less refined than Hamanoya but has a helpful window display and serves a wider range of foods at cheaper prices, including kiritampo, shottsuru and set meals from ¥1300. Opening time: Daily 11am–9pm
3 Apartment A few minutes' walk north of the station is the Apartment café-bar – the coolest place to hang out in the whole of northern Japan. In a rickety two-storey building decked out with mismatching old armchairs, Shinobu, the owner and house DJ, flits between the turntables and a tiny kitchen/bar, serving up an eclectic range of cheap meals to go with the ¥500 mixed drinks and down-tempo/nu-jazz. Opening time: Tues– Sun noon to midnight