Derek Yamashita - Creative Director

Sea to Table Experiences in Yamagata

Catch your own fish or shop for some at a local market, then watch or work alongside as a professional Japanese chef prepares it.

A guide to the Yamagata Station area: restaurants, shopping, museums, a free observation deck, and more!

A stroll through the charming historical city of Sakata, which prospered during the Edo period as a major port for safflower and rice.

The Uesugi Festival commemorates the samurai clan who once ruled Yonezawa. The main event is a reenactment of the Battle of Kawanakajima.

Leave the car behind and explore the wide open plains of Yamagata Prefecture on a guided cycling tour!

A guided hike up the 2,446 stone steps of holy Mount Haguro, with a lunch of Dewa Sanzan shojin ryori mountain monk cuisine.

Experience rural Japan life with a farmstay experience in Tsuruoka, Yamagata. Harvest or plant crops, and learn to cook traditional dishes.

Dine on Dewa Sanzan shojin ryori, sleep at a pilgrim’s lodge. Wake the next morning to harvest vegetables and learn to cook this cuisine.

Experience Iaido, a traditional sword-based martial art, at the very place it was founded: Iai Shrine in Yamagata Prefecture.

Venture into the nature of Yamagata with yamabushi mountain monks along their ancient training paths on Mount Kinbo.