We stayed at two places in Tohoku (aka "Northern Honshu") during our first week in Japan:

1. Naruko Onsen


2. Morioka

and visited three other places as well:

1. Matsushima


2. Kakunodate (a Samurai Town)


3. Oga Penninsula
   

While the island of Honshu has the bulk of Japan's population, most of these people live in the Kanto region (Tokyo and surrounding areas) and southwards; Tohoku is much less densely populated and thus is far less developed than the rest of the island.