Nagai (Nagai City, Yamagata Pref.)

Footpaths linking the beautiful riverside along the Mogami River with the local streetscape, babbling waterways, modern buildings, storehouses, cherry blossom groves, and other local delights provide captivating sightseeing routes and opportunities to engage in the joy of walking.

Ayame Park is home to 31 varieties of rare Old Nagai iris plants that can be found nowhere else. It is a leading Japanese park boasting a total of 1 million iris plants representing 500 different varieties in all. (Depending on the weather of course, these plants are in full bloom around the last week of June.)

Two giant 1,200 year-old trees, the Kubo Cherry Tree of Isazawa and the Daimyojin-Zakura of Kusaoka, which, depending on the angle of view, can look like a pair of trees, have both been designated natural monuments by the national government. (Depending on the weather, the best time to view these trees is when they are in full bloom around the end of April.)