Road Trip: Yonezawa, Yamagata
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May 26, 2014 - Road Trip: Yonezawa, Yamagata
Road Trip part 3 of 4: Yonezawa, Yamagata
After finishing up at Ouchijuku in Fukushima, we drove to Yonezawa, Yamagata to spend the night at a Toyoko Inn there. Honestly, the only reason we chose there was because when we planned the trip there were rooms still available. I didn't know much about Yonezawa going into this trip, and I don't really know much about it now! But I can say that is was a really pleasant place to spend less than 24 hours!
However thanks to a walk to the nearby station and stumbling on these street tiles, we learned the "Yonezawa ABC"s... Apples, Beef, and Carp are apparently famous! It isn't the time for Apples, and we didn't feel like fish, so we headed for a Beef restaurant near the station.
Most of them seemed to close at about 8 or 9pm, and beyond the restaurants the station area was pretty empty... luckily we got into one before closing to grab a meal.
I've never tried Kobe beef or anything, so I can't say this was the best in Japan, but it sure was the best beef I've ever tasted! I'm by no means a connoisseur, but the taste and texture were definitely different from your run-of-the-mill supermarket beef here in Japan! Yum!
The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed to see a little of Yonezawa before going to Yamadera. We ended up at Uesugi Shrine, located in the ruins of what once was a castle, hence the moat around the shrine. The cherries were beautiful in this area!
Crossing a bridge into the shrine area proper, there were lots of people out enjoying the blossoms and feeding the fish under the bridge. A festival was going on which included a nightly light up of the sakura trees until May 5th, and preparing for a bigger festival during Golden week, hence the food stalls and banners around the shrine.
A close op of some of the yatai there... I've never seen Tama Konnyaku before! And here I thought Konnyaku was a Gunma specialty...
Honestly I have a lot of pictures from this shrine, but about 75% of them consist of the three of us goofing off with the various statues around the shrine, and personally, I would like to keep what little dignity I have left, so I wont be posting them.
The shrine grounds were very nice. Besides the many cherry trees surrounding the moat, there was also a hill from when the castle was still there that has many statues, a stage, and a pond. I thought the atmosphere was very nice.
I got my usual calligraphy done from the shrine, then grabbed the other girls from where they were (still) goofing off with the statues, and we piled back in the car and headed to our last destination, Yamadera.
Yonezawa certainly isn't a destination in and of itself, despite how much I liked it, but as a good place to grab a hotel room that is central to the area, or passing through, I think a lot of people will find interest in it. There is, of course, a ton more that we didn't do that the city has to offer. For anyone interested, please visit http://www.yonezawa-kankou-navi.com/langage/en/index.html for more information on anything Yonezawa-related you might want to know, in many languages!
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