Kabushima

Close to Same station on the JR Aoimori line from Hachinohe, Kabushima is a small rocky outcrop which is home to a shinto shrine, and a colony of some 40,000 seagulls. It's possible to hear their collective screeching from a kilometer away, and once you get there, it's like a set from some post-apocalyptic movie where the birds have taken over. Few people venture as far as the shrine buildings, but it's here that the atmosphere is wildest, and where you'll see seagull chicks with their soft, grey down.