Bus VS Local Trains In Fukushima Prefecture, Yamagata Prefecture And Miyagi Prefecture - Part 3

The “bus versus train” race continues, with both teams now heading to the fourth checkpoint after completing their mission at Numagi Hot Spring, the third checkpoint. Tendo Station is 20km away and is located in what is known as a “shogi town”. 

The bus team takes the 9am bus from Numagi Hot Spring to Yamagata Station, while the train team is walking back to Yamagata Station. From Yamagata Station, there is a bus at 9.30am to Tendo Station. The bus team makes enquiries in advance about getting to the fifth checkpoint, Matsunoya, later. They are told that from Tendo Station, they can take the 1.25pm bus to Sakurambo-Higashine Station, from where there is a bus going to the fifth checkpoint and also the goal, Sendai. 

The train team, in the meantime, reaches Yamagata Station. They too gather information about getting to the final checkpoint. They are also advised to go to the Sakurambo-Higashine Station along the Ouhon Line and then transfer to the Uzen-Chitose Station and head to Sendai on the Senzan Line. Alternatively, they can also go to Sakunami Station by taxi after completing the last mission at Matsunoya and head to Sendai. The train team finally departs Yamagata Station at 10.20am and heads to Tendo Station.  

The bus team is leading and arrives at Tendo Station. Tendo City has been associated with shogi since the Edo period when samurais made shogi pieces as their side job. The city is known for having the highest production of shogi in all of Japan. The mission here is to find three shogi piece displays located within a 1km radius of the station. The bus team wants to finish the mission fast so that they can take an earlier bus heading to Sakurambo-Higashine at 10.55am, half an hour later.

The train team reaches Tendo Station at 10.40am and aims to catch the 11.50am train after completing the mission. If they miss that train, they will have to wait for two hours.

The bus team does not manage to take the 10.55am bus but completes the mission ahead of the opponent team. The fifth and final checkpoint, Matsunoya, is 9km away. Their next bus will only come at 1.25pm, two hours later. Instead of waiting and wasting precious time, they decide to skip going to Sakurambo-Higashine and walk to Matsunoya. After clearing the fifth checkpoint, the bus team plans to head to Sendai by catching the 4.20pm bus. If they miss that bus, they must wait for two hours. 

The train team finally clears the mission and travels on the 11.50am train from Tendo Station to Sakurambo-Higashine. They must now walk 5km from Sakurambo-Higashine to the fifth checkpoint, Matsunoya.  

Due to the hot weather and to avoid getting a heat stroke, both teams take a break from 1.30pm to 2.30pm. They later arrive at Matsunoya, a shop specialising in Higashine plums, at around 3.10pm. Their mission is to guess and eat the third most popular dessert made from these plums, which are only harvested in this city. They are two times the size of a regular plum. The teams have to choose among Matsunoya’s 10 desserts made with Higashine plums. They include plum soft serve ice cream, which is blended with homemade plum syrup; Higashine Bijin, where large plums are ripened in syrup and honey and made into a semi-dried plum; pickled plum; raw plum gelato; Dewa no Shirayuki made from large ripe plums; and raw plum sweet amanatto.

The bus team clears the mission first after four attempts and must wait for 20 minutes to take the bus to the goal, the ruins of Sendai Castle. The train team members succeed on their sixth try after picking Dewa no Shirayuki. They still have 8,940 yen taxi money left so take a taxi to Sakunami Station. They unfortunately miss the 4.35pm train to Sendai by mere seconds and must wait an hour for the next one. 

The opponent team catches the bus and is now in the lead but their bus gets stuck in a traffic jam just before entering Sendai. So they decide to get off at a bus stop just before Sendai Station and walk 2.5km to the ruins of Sendai Castle. The train team, meanwhile, finally reaches Sendai Station and heads to a station near Sendai Castle, after which they have to run up a steep slope to reach the goal.

The bus team reaches the ruins of Sendai Castle first and they are ecstatic to see the victory flag in the treasure box at the goal. The train team members arrive 10 minutes later and are disappointed that they have lost the race.

Tips:
1)    Check out the various displays of shogi chess pieces when visiting Tendo City
2)    Plums are a speciality of Higashine City in Yamagata and can be found in a variety of desserts