Tag: road

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Apple Road to Shirakami mountains

shirakami mountains pond 2
apple road seeing Mt.Iwaki
apple road seeing Mt.Iwaki

On the way to Shirakami mountains (World Heritage), we drove through HIROSAKI city which is famous for apple production and Mt.Iwaki the shape of which is similar to Mt.Fuji.
The road connects many apple farms.  Silver sheets under trees reflect sunlight and apples turn into red.  The price of apples is rising due to typhoon damage nationwide, so be sure to buy fresh apples at the production area.  It is said that “Apples don’t need a doctor.”

Mt.Iwaki (Tsugaru Fuji)
Mt.Iwaki (Tsugaru Fuji)

You can reach Shirakami mountains through this road  seeing Mt.Iwaki named Mt.Tsugaru-Fuji with apple trees.

Mt.Gentagatake
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Soba is cool in the throat

white flower of buckwheat

Soba, a thin noodle made of buckwheat flour, is eaten or the scent enjoyed all over Japan and had become a subject of classical literary arts, especially rakugo.
Yamagata was a place to ship rice to the Edo Shogunate by Kitamae ship, so rice production was popular.  Soba has historically been offered as thank-you after the rice farming work that many neighbors helped, and its taste was a showcase for the farmers.  That is why soba became famous in Yamagata prefecture.
Soba fields spread along the Oishi Kaido(highroad) in the countryside, and many soba restaurants are concentrated in it.  In August, the fields are filled with small white flowers, and in the fall you can enjoy the fragrant new soba.

Gallery (click photos)

soba highroad left
soba highroad right
soba menu
sobagaki(right)

The restaurant ‘Heikichi’ I found in the countryside by chance is the following.
The place name is “Jinego”, literary ‘next year’s children’ in Japanese characters, because it was too snowy to register the birth at the government office only next year.