Yamagata, Day 3

Here's the third and final full day of my trip north last month!

That morning, my friend Char returned to Tokyo, which meant that I had the next 24 hours or so all to myself. I put on my warmest clothes and headed for the free community bus that would take me to Mount Zao:

• Left: the bus dropped us off around 10.30am. Little did I know that there was so much fog you wouldn't be able to see a thing. I very nearly turned around to catch the bus back 45 minutes later, because I knew that the next one wouldn't come for another 4 hours, but I kept climbing until I reached the top of one of the peaks. Apart from a shrine, this was literally all you could see, and I wish I could tell you what it is, but unfortunately I cannot. I felt like I was in some kind of science fiction movie.
• Right: I had just begun to think that I had wasted my day by deciding to come to the mountain instead of doing something else--nothing was visible because of the heavy fog. Just when I decided to leave the rest house (where we'd all been keeping warm at the top of the mountain) and head back, the sun came out and this is what we saw. Earlier in the morning I had stood in almost the same spot and couldn't see more than a couple yards in front of me, so I was definitely glad that things cleared up.

• Left: Mount Zao is famous for its crater.
• Right: it was a very busy day on the mountain...

• Left: I took this photo at one of the bus stops on the trip back to town. No color enhancement for this image, folks. It really was that vibrant.
• Right: back in town, just a 10 minute walk from my ryokan (hotel) was the local castle.

And I guess that's about all of the highlights from this trip. Next up: my dad's visit!

Yamagata, Day 2

The day after arriving in Yamagata, my coworkers spent the morning doing a little exploring but then headed right back to Tokyo. My friend Char and I were the only ones who stayed behind, so after transferring our luggage to our new hotel, the two of us had all day to do whatever we wanted. We ended up going to a place called Yamadera (meaning "mountain temples").

Yamadera is a tiny town a little to the east of the main Yamagata train station, which is home to one of the most popular tourist attractions of the region. It's basically a small mountain which holds a lot of religious significance for Buddhists and you climb your way to the top up a long series of staircases. Each step towards the top (there are 1,015 stairs) is said to bring you closer to enlightenment. In my opinion, "enlightenment" must just be a euphemism for "sore muscles."

The temple at the top is not the only thing worth seeing; the whole trek to the top is about 45 minutes and takes you past more than a dozen other smaller temples as well as many religious monuments carved into the rock of the mountain. Overall, it's a pretty incredible sight!

• Left: At the base of the mountain, there are several shops mostly catering to tourists, but nonetheless offering a great variety of local produce and specialty items. We just picked up a couple apples at this place, but I thought the colors of the other fruits/vegetables were incredible.
• Right: This was taken about 2/3 of the way up the mountain...we had to stop and rest our legs.

• Left: Much closer to the top there is a view point that lets you see down the side of the mountain you have just climbed...
• Right: ...and from the other side of the balcony, you can see the entire city of Yamadera.

• Left: Victory! I had sore legs for 2-3 days afterwards, but it felt very good to reach the top.
• Right: After leaving Yamadera, Char and I continued eastwards another 45 minutes by train to reach Sendai, which is one of the larger of the cities in the northern area of Japan. We stopped there only to eat dinner (delicious Indian food!) and then turned around and went back to our hotel in Kaminoyama-onsen. We slept *very* well that night...

(See this site for other images of Yamadera.)

Yamagata, Day 1

Here is the much-delayed second installment of photos from my trip to Yamagata! (I told myself I need to get these posted so that I can follow these up with the pictures of my dad's visit...)

• Left: A few colors not easy to find in the area where I live. I was so glad to have a window seat on the bullet train to the countryside! (Sorry about the glare in the window...)
• Right: Another spectacular view was awaiting us when we arrived at our hotel! This is the view from the window in my room.

• Left: my coworkers and I were served dinner in the traditional Japanese style. You might be able to see that some of us are wearing traditional robes (called "yukata") as well. Fun, useless fact: every traditional hotel (called "ryokan" in Japan) has its own personalized pattern on the fabric of the yukata. Each guest is provided with one on arrival, and encouraged to wear it during their stay, so basically a traditional Japanese hotel is full of people all dressed identically.
  
• Right: it was astonishingly well-presented (there were probably upwards of 6 courses to the meal) and everything looked so beautiful. The downside? It was basically a collection of all the things that I like the least when it comes to Japanese food. Here is a mere glimpse of how much of a picky eater I am: underneath the red box was a set of stacked trays containing assorted sushi (I don't eat fish) and strange Japanese vegetables (I know from experience which ones to avoid), I don't like the particular way that beef was meant to be eaten, the glass directly in front of me was left empty until eventually someone served some tea (I don't drink the beer that everyone else was having) and there were mushrooms in lots of stuff too (don't touch those, either). Needless to say that my two friends on either side of me got a lot of extra dinner that night...and later I was stuck eating potato chips and sneaking samples of treats from the hotel gift shop in order to fill my growling stomach. But it was probably the most beautiful meal I have ever seen, so I'll have to take solace in that.

• Left: after dinner there was a taiko (Japanese drum) performance in the hotel lobby by some of the local women. Of course there was audience participation...and since I was sitting in the front row AND I was the only white person in the room (yes, that makes you quite a novelty in Yamagata) I was literally pushed out of my seat to go join in. Don't get me wrong, taiko is something I've wanted to learn for a long time, I just wasn't excited about doing it in front of the enormous crowd of vacationing retirees that were sitting on all the other benches.
• Right: a view of the inside of my hotel room. While we were eating dinner, the hotel staff actually goes in to your room and moves the table aside in order to lay out the futon mattresses. I had a very comfortable bed waiting for me after I got back from the meal!

More to come...