With reconstruction underway and tourism returning to northern Japan, Aomori Prefecture is once again a viable tourist destination. You can ride the Hayabusa (not the space probe, but the bullet train) and probe northern Japan. As the new bullet train pierces the northernmost reaches of Honshu, to me, it looks like a giant hurtling thermometer.
The Hayabusa goes from Tokyo to Aomori and moving at 300 kph, there is hardly an excuse anymore not to visit Aomori Prefecture and those people with the funny Japanese accents who live there.
Although I have visited the prefecture in winter, and truly loved it, I think it must be even more spectacular in the autumn when you can enjoy the sights in slightly warmer conditions.