Zao Onsen Tours and Trips (Yamagata)

"Inahanamochi" from Zao Onsen
Said to have originated from the stacked rice cakes offered to Zao Gongen in prayer for a good harvest, "Inahanamochi" served on bamboo leaves has long been a popular specialty sold at souvenir shops in Zao Onsen town. They are three cute white rice cakes filled with lightly sweetened bean paste and decorated with yellow-dyed rice grains. The bamboo leaves placed underneath the rice cakes are kumazasa leaves from the mountains of Zao, and when you eat the rice cakes, you can enjoy the faint aroma of the bamboo leaves in your mouth.

Zao loved by a principled man
After the Second World War, Jiro Shirasu was a close aide to Shigeru Yoshida and negotiated with GHQ, and was said to be "the only Japanese who was not submissive." He remained independent throughout his life, and during his time as chairman of Tohoku Power, he proposed the construction of a large ropeway and other projects to turn Zao into the "St. Moritz of the East." He built a small mountain lodge called "Hütte Jaren" in a corner of the Zao ski resort, where he enjoyed skiing. Currently, "Hütte Jaren" is being restored as the "Old Shirasu Jiro Mountain Lodge."