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...