By plane
Akita has an airport, with domestic flights coming in from such places as Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Sapporo. Buses connect the airport with Akita Station ç§ç°é§ -- a ride costs ¥980 and takes 40 minutes.
By train
Akita Shinkansen service from Tokyo to Akita resumed on April 29, but trains have to slow down around areas where repairs are being made. Allow an extra hour or so if traveling between these two cities.}}
The Akita Shinkansen provides hourly service from Tokyo station to Akita station. These trains, called the Komachi ãã¾ã¡ trains, have only reserved seating. The Komachi stops at Ueno, Omiya, Sendai, Morioka before slowing down to travel to Shizukuishi, Tazawako, Kakunodate, Omagari, and finally Akita over conventional rail lines. Trains also reverse direction once at Omagari, the stop before Akita. Komachi trains from Tokyo reach Akita in four hours and cost ¥16,800 each way. Beware that the Komachi trains are coupled to Aomori-bound Hayate trains, which split at Morioka, but as all seats are reserved the chance of getting in the wrong car is minimal at best. For foreign tourists traveling from Tokyo, the better deal is to purchase a JR East Rail Pass or the national Japan Rail Pass.
The Akebono overnight sleeper train from Tokyo's Ueno station, and the Nihonkai from Osaka and Kyoto, stop in Akita before terminating in Aomori.
By bus
JR Bus operates the Dream Akita-Yokohama overnight bus to Akita from the bus terminal at Yokohama Station 9 3/4 hours, ¥9,500 and from Tokyo Station 8 3/4 hours, ¥9,100.
Odakyu and Akita Chuo Kotsu run the Flora overnight bus from Shinjuku 8 hours, ¥9,450.
The Senshuu daytime bus runs from Sendai with multiple departures 3 1/2 hours, ¥4,000.