Tohoku
Tohoku Region, Northeast Region
noun
The East North area of Japan is called Tohoku or the Tohoku region. It was the region hit by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. This can also mean northeast region when talking about China or Japan, but for other countries (and for the direction) we'd use 北東.
This is a jukugo word, which usually means on'yomi readings from the kanji. You learned the on'yomi reading for 北 when you learned 北西, but here's another mnemonic to help you remember:
Tohoku has its fair share of hocus (ほく) pocus too. I guess you can go to any northern region and the people there are gonna try to hocus-pocus you, so you gotta watch out. And Japan's Tohoku region (the northeast region) is no exception when it comes to hocus pocus!
東北で、ボランティアをしていました。
I was volunteering in Tohoku.
東北の牛肉はおいしいです。
Tohoku beef is delicious.
私のおばあちゃんは東北生まれなので方言が分かります。
My grandmother is originally from Tohoku, so she understands the dialect.