Rice fields filled with water in Nagai, Yamagata Prefecture, turn reddish as they reflect the sun rising in a cloudless sky shortly after 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.
15:27 JST, May 16, 2024
NAGAI, Yamagata – Seasonal tours that give participants spectacular views of picturesque rice fields that reflect the colors of the sun rising over nearby mountains in Nagai, Yamagata Prefecture, begin Friday.
During a preview tour that started before dawn on Wednesday, the fields between some settlements turned orange as day broke and the sun reflected in the water.
The Yamagata Arcadia Tourism Bureau planned and arranged the tours to coincide with the time of year when the fields are filled with water for planting rice. This is the fifth year that the agency has organized the tours.
A reporter from Yomiuri Shimbun joined the preview tour, which departed before 3 a.m. from a lodge in the Doshojidaira ski resort. The group hiked for about an hour up the 670-meter-high Mount Kumano, which is listed among the 100 famous mountains of Yamagata Prefecture. and then waited for the sunrise at an observation spot near the Kumano Shrine at an altitude of about 600 meters.
It didn’t take long before the edge of the mountains started to turn red. As the sun rose in a cloudless sky just after 4:30 a.m., beams of pale orange light spread through the sky and reflected off the water in the rice fields.
“The scene changes from second to second,” says guide Kotaro Omura, 29. “No matter how many times I climb here, I am always excited about what view will appear before me.”
In clear weather, participants can also admire the starry sky before starting the climb. On Wednesday, the constellations of the Milky Way, Ursa Major and Cassiopeia were clearly visible. An experienced guide, 70-year-old Fumiaki Yagi, also pointed out Mars and several satellites.
The tours run until June 2. Reservations are required and must be made three or more days in advance.
