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Stairway National Route 339

Route 339stairway highwayCape TappiSotogahamaTsugaru Strait

Aomori · Sotogahama

41.2564°N, 140.3423°E

National Route 339 runs up the Tsugaru peninsula to Cape Tappi, and for 388 metres of its length it is a flight of 362 concrete steps that no vehicle can use. It is the only stretch of national highway in Japan that is a staircase. The designation was made in 1974, reportedly from a map, and nobody has ever seen fit to correct it.

It climbs from the fishing harbour to the lighthouse on the headland, past houses with washing out and boats pulled up, with a national route marker at the top and the bottom in case you doubted it. Cape Tappi itself is the northern tip of the Tsugaru peninsula, wind-blasted, with the Tsugaru Strait in front and Hokkaido visible on a clear day. The Seikan Tunnel runs underneath, and there is a museum at the top about building it.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Open 24 hrs | Daylight recommended

Closed: Open year-round | Exposed and icy in winter

Entrance Fee

Free | Free parking | Seikan Tunnel Memorial Museum charged separately

Best Season

May–October for comfortable walking | Clear days for the Hokkaido view

Visit Duration

45–60 minutes | 2 hours with the tunnel museum

Getting There

Access Information

Tatsuhama, Minmaya, Sotogahama, Higashitsugaru District. From Minmaya Station on the JR Tsugaru Line take the bus to the Tappizaki Todai stop, which is at the top. By car, about 90 minutes from Aomori IC. Free, with a free car park for around 40 cars and 3 coaches. The Seikan Tunnel Memorial Museum at the cape is charged separately.

Insider Guide

Premium

**Walk down, then up.** The lighthouse end has the car park, so most people descend to the harbour and climb back. Three hundred and sixty-two steps is a real climb on the return. **Find both route markers.** There is a national highway sign at the top and one at the bottom, which is the joke and the photograph. Route 339 resumes as a road at either end. **The wind is not exaggerated.** Cape Tappi is one of the windiest places in Honshu. Anything loose will go, and it is cold here well into spring. **Hokkaido on a clear day.** The Tsugaru Strait is about twenty kilometres across at this point and the far shore is visible in good weather. **The tunnel museum is at the top.** The Seikan Tunnel, the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world when it opened, runs under your feet, and the museum on the headland covers how it was dug.

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