Shonai area faces the Sea of Japan, and is Japan’s leading rice producer. Sakata City plays an important role as the only harbor in Yamagata. Thanks to the  development of clockwise sea routes in 1672, Sakata prospered as the Port in the East, whose importance is comparable to Sakai in Osaka, or the Port in the West. Other popular destinations include Tsuruoka, an old castle town, and Dewa Sanzan, the three mountains where ancient practices of mountain worship are preserved.