The Akita Nairiku Line is a 94.2 km rural railway. It starts at Kakunodate, a stop on the Akita Shinkansen, runs north through the thinly populated mountains of central Akita Prefecture, and ends at Takanosu on the Ou Main Line. Along the way there are mountains, rivers, forest and plains, and in winter, deep snow from end to end. Today it is one of the better-known tourist railways in Tohoku, but its origins were not glamorous: it was one of the lines Japanese National Railways judged too unprofitable to keep, and it survived because the local government took it over and turned it toward tourism.
I first rode it in the autumn of 2012 and came back with my son in February 2019. The clearest difference between the two trips was the mood. In 2012 it still felt like a country railway. By 2019 it felt like a tourist railway. This post covers how to ride it in winter, a few stations worth getting off at, and a connection most people miss: a direct shared taxi from Matsuba Station to Lake Tazawa and Nyuto Onsen, with no need to go back to Kakunodate.
Where the line came from: the closure list to a tourist railway
The Akita Nairiku Line was built from two Japanese National Railways branch lines: the Aniai Line, opened in 1934, and the Kakunodate Line, opened in 1970. The two lines were originally separate. In the 1980s JNR was carrying enormous losses, and the government passed a law putting the lowest-traffic rural lines on a closure list. Eighty-three lines nationwide were closed. Some were replaced by buses; others were handed to what Japan calls “third-sector railways”: companies jointly owned by local governments and local businesses, set up to keep transport running for the people who lived along the abandoned lines.
The Akita Nairiku Jukan Tetsudo, the company that runs the line, was set up to take over two lines nobody else wanted. It took over the two lines in 1986 and filled the gap between Hitachinai and Matsuba in 1989, which is when the two lines finally became one. Thirty years later it has become an important tourism asset for Akita Prefecture and for Tohoku as a whole. I think about that every time I ride it.
How to ride the Akita Nairiku Line: in at Kakunodate, out at Takanosu, 4 staffed stations out of 29
Most visitors start at the southern end, Kakunodate, because it is also a stop on the Akita Shinkansen, about 3 hours 10 minutes from Tokyo. The northern end, Takanosu, is a stop on the JR Ou Main Line between Akita and Aomori. The Nairiku Line has its own stations at Kakunodate and Takanosu rather than sharing the JR buildings, but they are right next door, a few steps away, so changing trains is easy as long as you watch the connection times.
There are 29 stations between Kakunodate and Takanosu. Apart from the two ends and Aniai in the middle, as far as I remember only Ani-Maeda still has staff. Most of the rest are unstaffed stations in open country with nothing around them. Kakunodate to Aniai is ¥1,280 one way, ¥2,560 round trip.
There are two ways to do the line. The ambitious one is to hunt down the “eight scenic views” of the Nairiku Line, eight spots where you photograph the train against the landscape from a distance. That really needs a car. The usual way is to ride the train for the feel of a country railway and get off for a walk at a few of the main stations. That is what I did both times.
One thing to be clear about in winter: this area gets heavy snowfall and the snow lies deep, and when you step off at an unstaffed station there is often nothing at all. Getting off on a whim to look around, without onward transport arranged, is dangerous in winter.
Aniai Station: the main mid-line stop, horse-meat curry and train photos
Aniai sits at the midpoint of the line and is the most important station after the two ends. If you arrive around midday, there is a restaurant inside the station called Kogumatei. Its specialty is horse meat, specifically horse-meat curry, said to come from the meals the local hunters once ate. When I came in 2012 the restaurant was still Japanese in style. By 2019 it had been remodeled into something closer to a Western-style cafe.
Aniai may be the big station, but step outside and there is almost nothing: just the Ijinkan next to the station, a small museum on Aniai’s history. In winter there was a little snow hut in front of the station that my son kept wandering in and out of. For me the most interesting thing about Aniai is the station itself. Because it is the mid-line hub, trains sit here longer, which makes it good for photographs. With lunch included, an hour or two here is easy to fill.
Side trip: the frost-covered trees of Mt. Moriyoshi (winter)
Mt. Moriyoshi is the best-known sight along the line. Its gondola station is about 25 minutes by car from Aniai. In winter it is a ski area, and it is also a place to see juhyo, the frost-covered trees that Japanese call “snow monsters.” Moriyoshi, Zao and Hakkoda are counted as the three great juhyo sites of Tohoku. Zao is the biggest and most famous, and fame means crowds. On this trip I had considered coming to Moriyoshi for the trees, but we were short on time, so in the end we went to Zao because it is the famous one, which is how I learned how frightening the Zao crowds are in winter.
If you do go to Moriyoshi, look at the local winter sightseeing pass. It bundles unlimited rides on the whole Nairiku Line for a day, a round trip on the shared taxi between Aniai Station and the Ani ski area, and a round trip on the Ani Gondola. Since the train alone from Kakunodate to Aniai and back is ¥2,560, the pass is good value. The contents and price change from year to year, so check the Nairiku Line website before you go.
Ani-Maeda Station: a hot spring inside the station
What makes Ani-Maeda special is that the station building has a hot spring in it. I did not bathe there on the 2019 winter trip, but I did in 2012, and the facilities were good: the men’s and women’s sides each have an indoor bath and an open-air bath, and you never have to leave the station. The station has since been renamed Ani-Maeda Onsen Station.
The thing to watch is where it is. The main tourist section of the line is the southern half between Kakunodate and Aniai. Ani-Maeda is in the northern half, between Aniai and Takanosu. In 2012 my plan was in at Kakunodate and out at Takanosu, so stopping here for a bath was on the way. A soak plus a walk around the station takes about 1–2 hours, which lines up nicely with the next train, so the wait never feels wasted. If you like hot springs, put this stop in your plan and try a bath inside a railway station.
Ani-Matagi Station: a hot spring built on hunter culture
Ani-Matagi is an unstaffed station, and when you get off there is nothing around. Matagi is the name for the traditional hunters of the mountains of the Tohoku region, and the Ani area is the heart of that culture. Near the station is Utto Onsen Matagi no Yu, a well-known hot spring inn built around matagi culture and its baths. It is about a 15-minute walk from the station, or the inn will pick you up, a 5-minute drive. You can come just for a day-use bath or stay the night.
For my one night along the Nairiku Line on this trip, I went back and forth for a long time between Utto Onsen and Nyuto Onsen. In the end I chose Nyuto Onsen and never got to try the hunters’ life.
Matsuba Station: the shortcut to Lake Tazawa and Nyuto Onsen
This is the part of the post I most wanted to write. Lake Tazawa is one of the well-known lakes of Tohoku, and Nyuto Onsen is the most famous hot spring area in the region; together they make up one of Tohoku’s main tourist districts. Almost everyone gets there by bus from Tazawako Station on the Akita Shinkansen. But a look at the map shows that the Nairiku Line passes along the west side of Lake Tazawa while the Shinkansen passes to the south, and the two are not far apart. When you plan a Nairiku Line trip, spending the night at Lake Tazawa or Nyuto Onsen makes a lot of sense.
Matsuba is an ordinary unstaffed station on the Nairiku Line, but it is the closest station on the line to Lake Tazawa. Few people mention this, and few people use Matsuba as their way in and out of Lake Tazawa and Nyuto Onsen, probably because Matsuba is remote, trains are infrequent and onward transport is hard to arrange. Once I had decided to stay at Taenoyu in Nyuto Onsen, my first instinct was to go back to Kakunodate, take the Shinkansen to Tazawako Station and change to the bus up the mountain. Only later did I find that there was a connection from Matsuba Station to Nyuto Onsen.
A reservation-only shared taxi, not a scheduled bus
The connection from Matsuba is a shared taxi. It must be booked in advance; there is no scheduled bus. Do not, in winter, look at a timetable and simply get off at Matsuba to wait. Without a reservation, no car is coming.
This service is not always available, so treat it as an option to confirm rather than a fixed part of your route. I checked again in October 2026. The Nairiku Line’s official English website still lists a sightseeing taxi from Matsuba Station to Lake Tazawa, run by a local taxi company (Obonai Kanko-hire), with reservations required at least 2 hours ahead. The Tazawako Kakunodate tourism association also says its staff can confirm the running times and make the booking for you. But every public timetable I could find was several years old, and the Japanese version of the Nairiku Line site no longer lists this route. Before you travel, phone ahead or ask at the tourist information office in Kakunodate whether a car is running that day, and only then decide to get off at Matsuba.
One more suggestion. With a reservation-only connection at an unstaffed station in the snow, there is no room for a misunderstanding, and precise communication in Japanese is exactly what gives foreigners like me the most trouble. On this trip I handed much of what had to be done in Japanese to the concierge service that comes with my credit card. Most people only use it to book hotels and restaurants and forget that translating and making calls on your behalf is part of what it does. It helped more than I expected.
Money versus time
The downside of using Matsuba is obvious: it costs more. Taking Taenoyu, where I stayed, as the example, the shared taxi from Matsuba Station to Taenoyu was ¥2,200 per adult. The Ugo Kotsu bus from Tazawako Station to Taenoyu was ¥820. That is a ¥1,400 difference. The upside is that you skip going back to Kakunodate, changing to the Shinkansen and changing again to the bus, which saves about 1.5 hours. Trading money for time is a normal part of travel. Whether an extra ¥1,400 a head is worth it depends on how you value those 1.5 hours.
How the transfer actually went
When we reached Matsuba Station the driver was already standing on the platform. The taxi first drove to Gozanoishi, a shrine on the shore of Lake Tazawa, about 10 minutes away, stopped there for 10 minutes so we could look at the lake, then drove another 40 minutes or so to Taenoyu.
Last thoughts on the Akita Nairiku Line
Maybe because I like railways, riding a small country train like this always makes me happy. A visitor is always one day short: I wanted to see the frost-covered trees on Mt. Moriyoshi, I wanted a night at Utto Onsen, and when it came to choosing there was simply no time. If you come to the Nairiku Line in winter, the snow is deep and the stations are unstaffed, so if you get off along the way, arrange your pickup first.
The Akita Nairiku Line is a railway that lost serious money in the JNR era and came close to being abolished. By turning to tourism it found a new value for itself and brought visitors to this thinly populated corner of northern Akita. I had a very good trip here in 2012, and that is why I came back in 2019. For a small country railway, that is probably the best marketing there is.
