With Morioka, you know where you stand from the outset. As the title to the official English guide declares, Morioka is "the castle town of northern Japan."
Indeed it is a castle town in all senses of the term -- except, nitpickers may note -- in the sense of being "a town possessing a castle." Ramparts in Morioka you may admire, likewise bits of old moats. But as for an actual castle-shaped castle, the capital of Iwate Prefecture is, well, structurally challenged. The remains of what was once doubtlessly an admirable fortress stand as a large green area in the center of town.
In all, Morioka combines rather well the sense of a modern city while having nature attractively close at hand. Morioka is located in a basin ringed by mountains, dominant among them the icy volcanic dome of Mount Iwate. The air has a clean bite to it, and as you walk along in autumn, a whooping sound from above reveals the ragged V of geese flying overhead.