(editorial note - I am so out of practice posting here, I have forgotten how to wrap text around the photos. So, to be edited eventually!)
A 5-day rail pass to Tohoku for only 20,000 yen per person prompted Tohoku travel research. Falling upon The Hidden Japan’s website, my son and I decided to go around Yamagata Prefecture. Derek Yamashita, a former JET, now living in Yamagata and running The Hidden Japan (as well as a photography/video business), helped put together a really wonderful itinerary. I highly recommend reaching out to Derek if any of this interests you!
Day 1: Shinkansen Tokyo (9:24) → Yamagata (11:50). Drop bags off at the Metropolitan Hotel at the station, quick tonkatsu lunch at Hiraboku at the station, to catch the 12:56 train to Yamadera. The train only leaves once an hour, so you have to be quick!
We spent the afternoon hiking up the 1,000 steps to Yamadera with a beautiful view over the valley. On the way down, we enjoyed the shopping street where, if you’re lucky, farmers will also have tables out with fresh fruit!
4:02 train back to Yamagata. If you’re tired, check-in to the hotel, rest a bit like we did. More energetic folk might prefer to walk first to Kajo Park to see a restored castle. For dinner, there are plenty of restaurants around the station. We enjoyed a yakiniku place called Taiga run by a friendly grandma and grandpa.
Day 2: We packed this day with activities organized by Derek. In the morning, a lovely woman named Horikawa-san opened her traditional home to teach us how to make tofu and imomi beef stew with Yamagata beef. This was William’s favorite part of the trip (even though he doesn’t eat tofu!) because Horikawa-san was so friendly - and the stew was really tasty.
In the afternoon, we took the train south to Kaminoyama Onsen for a three-hour guided cycling tour. We visited a fruit farm (cut and eat!), a daimyo rest house turned museum (Naragesyuku Wakihonjin Takizawaya), and Tanno konyaku store. The grapes were amazingly sweet, as were the pears. The small museum has a number of treasures to see from the Edo times. William tried the “meat flavored” konyaku and really thought it was yakitori! I enjoyed the konyaku fruit flavored popsicle.
Had we done the bike tour in the morning, I probably would have stopped at the Kaminoyama Castle before heading back to Yamagata. But, in the fall that far north, it was already getting dark before 5pm! Tired after our bike ride, we once again got Yamagata beef for dinner - an upscale yakiniku place called Kaki Kiwami.
Day 3: We headed to Zao Onsen for some hiking on mountains usually used for skiing. Bus departed Yamagata Station at 9:20 (Y1000), arriving about 45 minutes later. We dropped our bags off at Hotel Lucent Takamiya and then headed to the cable car to take us up. After a snack at the Forest Inn Sangoro, we then went on a 1.5 hour hike on well-marked trails around Zao. We stopped in the Sangoro lodge again for a tasty lunch - definitely try the pudding made with local milk and honey for dessert! - and then went on another hike (about an hour, return) to a waterfall.
Cable car back down the mountain, and we were at our hotel between 3 and 4pm - enough time to enjoy the onsen (or catch a show on Netflix, if onsens aren’t your thing) before dinner. Dinner and breakfast at the onsen were traditional Japanese.
Day 4: We checked out early to catch the 8:40 bus back to Yamagata, arriving 9:25. We had about 30 minutes to get a coffee and snack, and then took a 10:08 shinkansen three stops north to Murayama.
Again arranged by Derek, we had a class in Iaido, a type of marshal art developed in Yamagata. We learned about its history and tradition, some basic moves, and then at the end tested our skills with using a real blade to chop through a tatami mat. The instructor was very knowledgeable and friendly and patient while Derek or I searched for the right Japanese word to help William understand (as William doesn’t speak Japanese).
The original plan was then to try some of Murayama’s famous soba for lunch before heading back to Tokyo. Either at a restaurant or maybe a place or two that lets you experience making it. But, after such a filled schedule, William was ready for a quick snack and the shinkansen home. (and a Shake Shack burger at Tokyo Station on arrival :) )
