itineraries
Narrow Road to the Deep North — in the footsteps of haiku poet Matsuo Basho
talk
Information in English tends to be sparse in rural Tohoku, since foreign travellers are few in these parts; most people are also apprehensive around foreigners even if you can speak Japanese.
The rural Tohoku accent, known as zÅ«zÅ«-ben for its characteristic feature of turning all "s" sounds into "z", can be difficult to comprehend at times even if you do understand Japanese. Most people are however well versed in school-standard hyÅjungo, and English is also somewhat spoken by urban youth.