JAL flies direct from BOS to NRT, via the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

• Non-Stop
  • JAL:
  • get window seat, A or K, for better shoulder room
    • avoid aisle / center sheets, as you can't drop the armrests
  • target row 1 or 8 (bulkhead rows)

    • With Layover
    • ANA (JFK, ORD –> NRT)
    • plane: Boeing 777-300ER (avoid 787, much narrower!)
    • roomiest seats available
    • United (EWR, SFO, ORD –> NRT)
    • plane: Boeing 777-300ER, 787
    • Sinapore Airlines (JFK –> NRT)
    • plane: Boeing 777-300ER, Airbus 350
    • downside: wide seats but not sleep diagnonal to lay flat

Themes: Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉), Date Masamune (伊達政宗)

Mogami (最上氏) and Date (伊達氏) clans

Major history of city began with Date daimyō, Date Masamune.

名物、食品:牛タン、炉端焼き、ずんだ餅

酒:

名物: 柳宇和氏、こけし

Yamagata Castle, connected to Date Masamune

Ōsaki Hachiman-gu (国宝大崎八幡宮), shrine ordered built by Date Masamune

名物：酒

* Day 1
  * [[https://maps.app.goo.gl/hUTSJg2AJbDjyGBg7 | Aoba Joshi (青葉城址), Aoba castle (Date's) ruins]]
  * [[https://maps.app.goo.gl/SG5JpmpEbxjDacaA8 | Sendai City Museum (仙台市博物館), Date Masamune’s armour]]
  * [[https://maps.app.goo.gl/qurZxort1rpHDWZ88 | Zuihōden (瑞鳳殿)]]: grave of Date Masamune

  * Zuiganji Temple: first built 828 CE, rebuilt by Date Masamune in 1609 as his family temple
  * Entsuin Temple: built to honor Masamune's grandson, Mitsumune
  * Godaido

  * Chusonji Temple
  * Motsuji Temple
  * Takadachi Giko-do: place where Minamoto no Yoshitsune (first samurai of Kamakura shogunate) committed seppuku; Date Masamune built a memorial to honor it in 1683 and Matsuo Basho visited in 1689
* Visit Yamagata
  * [[https://maps.app.goo.gl/mvcLshnCJ3B2b59FA | Yamadera / Rissyakuji (立石寺)]]: Basho composed famous haiku here
  * [[https://kanko-mogami.jp/en/agarashare/funakudari/ | Mogami River Boat ride]]: Basho took a boat tour and wrote haiku about the power of the river
  * Kajo Park: original seat of power of Mogami Clan.
  * Mogami Yoshiaki Historical Museum: Mogami Yoshiaki's actual battle armor—complete with a bullet dent from a matchlock gun
  * Senshoji Temple: temple holds the family graves of the Mogami Clan, including the final resting place of Mogami Yoshiaki