Cape Oma, Aomori | Japan is Nippon

The northernmost tip of Honshu, with Hokkaido just across the Tsugaru Strait and a famous tuna monument for your "end of the line" photo.

Stone monument marking the northernmost point of Honshu at Cape Oma — Photo: くろふね, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Clear, rocky shallows off Cape Oma with Benten Island's lighthouse on the horizon — Photo: くろふね, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The top of Honshu

Cape Oma (Oma-zaki) is a cape in the town of Oma, at the tip of the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture, and it is the northernmost point of Honshu, Japan's largest island. At latitude 41 degrees 32 minutes north stands a monument carved with the words "This is the northernmost point of Honshu".

Across the Tsugaru Strait in front of you, Cape Shiokubi in Hokkaido is just 17.5km away. On a clear day you can sometimes even see Goryokaku Tower in Hakodate.

The Shimokita Peninsula is certified as the Shimokita Geopark, one of Japan's geoparks (areas recognised as places to learn how the land was formed), and Cape Oma is one of its geosites, or points of interest.

Photo spot in a tuna town

Oma is famous for ippon-zuri tuna fishing, where fish are caught one at a time on a line rather than with nets. At the cape stands a monument modelled on a 440kg tuna landed by an Oma fisherman this way, and it is the most popular photo spot.

About 600m offshore lies Benten-jima island, where you can see the red Benten Shrine and the black-and-white-striped Omasaki Lighthouse. Around the cape there are also stones carved with tanka poems by Takuboku Ishikawa (a poet of the Meiji era) and with songs connected to Oma.

There are eateries and souvenir shops nearby, and the local specialities are rice bowls topped with tuna from the Tsugaru Strait and sun-dried octopus legs. Oma tuna is at its best from autumn into winter.

Getting there and when to go

It is about 60 minutes by car from Mutsu. By public transport, take a Shimokita Kotsu bus bound for Sai from the Mutsu Bus Terminal or JR Shimokita Station and get off at the Oma-zaki stop; the ride takes about 1 hour 40 minutes. There are two free car parks at the cape.

Ferries to Hakodate leave from Oma Port, and the cape is about 10 minutes from the port by taxi, so you can stop by on a journey between Hokkaido and Honshu by boat. Many of the nearby shops are seasonal, open from Golden Week (the holiday period from late April to early May) until the end of October, so if you visit in winter, check in advance.

Tips

You can buy a certificate of arrival at Cape Oma, the northernmost point of Honshu, issued by the Oma Town Tourism Association, at designated shops. It makes a nice souvenir of the trip.
The Oma-zaki Rest House, which used to serve as a tourist information centre, was demolished in March 2026 because the building had aged. Watch out for this in older guides.
During Obon (the mid-August holiday) and Golden Week, the first car park tends to fill up, and parking on the roads nearby is prohibited. If it is full, use the second car park. The toilets are at the first car park.
There is also a campaign called Honshu Yontan Toha (conquering Honshu's four extremities): visit all four towns at the ends of Honshu (Oma, Miyako, Shimonoseki and Kushimoto) and you receive a commemorative gift.