Yamagata is a neighboring prefecture to Niigata . Recently a new highway has connected Niigata city and Murakami city , so the time has been cut by an hour . (It used to take 2 hours to drive to Murakami .) The highway was not crowded . When we got off the highway , we took a coastal road to Yamagata . There are a lot of unusally shaped large rocks along the seacoast . We enjoyed the scenic beauty of sea . We stopped at a seaside rest area . My husband took a three-minute sightseeing helicopter ride . He was very excited . After that , we went to a coffee shop . There was a hot spa footbath in front of the shop . We drank coffee as we took a footbath .