Yamadera

One of Yamagata's famous tourist spots. Yama means mountain, and dera (tera) means temple. So as you can guess, it's a temple on a mountain.

Souvenir hats.

A view from the lookout platform on top.

Which was completely empty. There were only about 10 other people there the day I went. I was talking to a shop owner on my way back to the station and she said that tourism has dropped dramatically since the earthquake.

They are doing a little bit of construction work near the top. This guy was about 70, and his job was to bring the supplies to the workers, which involved pushing the wheelbarrow up and down a bunch of steps. And, the only way up here is to climb up the 1000 and some steps.