Airport information For flight information, phone 177/73-2135.

Banks Dai-ichi Kangyo, Michinoku and Aomori banks are all located on Shinmachi-dori, around the junction with ASPAM-dori.

Buses Limousine buses to Aomori airport leave from ASPAM and call at the station en route (40min; A?560). Long-distance buses for Tokyo, Sendai and Morioka depart from the station terminal.

Car rental Eki Rent-a-car (tel 0177/22-3930), Toyota (tel 0177/34-0100, Nippon (tel 0177/22-2369) and Nissan (tel 0177/22-4625) all have branches near the station.

Emergencies The main police station is at 2-15 Yasukata Aomori-shi (tel 0177/23-0110). In an absolute emergency contact the Foreign Advisory Service on tel 0177/77-5624.

Ferries Higashi-Nihon Ferry Co (tel 0177/82-3631) operates daily ferries and a high-speed Unicorn service to Hokkaido (Hakodate and Murora) from the car ferry wharf, only accessible by taxi (A?1000). Passenger ferries for Wakinosawa and the coast of Shimokita Hanto (Shimokita Kisen; tel 0177/22-4545) leave from the passenger terminal beside Bay Bridge.

Hospital Aomori City Hospital, 1-14-20 Katsuda (tel 0177/34-2171).

Post office Aomori Central Post Office has a poste restante service but it's inconveniently located on the west side of town, at 1-7-24 Tsutsumi-machi. There's a more handy sub-post office in the backstreets southeast of the train station.

Shopping Apart from ASPAM's souvenir and craftshops, browse along Shinmachi-Dori, where Murata Kogei stocks a good range of local kites, embroidery, lacquerware, brightly painted horses and Tsugaru kokeshi dolls. Further east you'll also find Narita Books, with a small selection of English-language titles.

Taxis Aomori Taxi (tel 0177/41-6000); Miyago Kanko Taxi (tel 0177/43-0385).