The long road back - Ou Honsen & Tohoku Honsen

The road back was similar to the way up, but the connections far less convenient. The Ou line from Odate was late, but they held the Nairiku sen so that transfering passengers could catch it. In Kakunodate also it was an easy change with 5 minutes between trains.  From there, the connections involved long waits.

An hour at Omagari, an hour at Shinjo, an hour at Yamagata and half an hour at Yonezawa. From Fukushima back to Tokyo connection times were minimal.

One hour is not long enough to see much, and too long to be enjoyable. The notable exception is Yonezawa where they have a standing soba counter in the station!

Near Yuzawa (Akita)

The view from Shinjo station

The Ou sen terminates and returns to Akita

Between Yonezawa and Yamagata is Takahata
which has an onsen at the station! 

Congratulations to the Rikuu Sai train line 100 years!
And a sign to welcome you to Yamagata -
the character is the prefecture mascot.

At Yonezawa - Fukushima bound

The train from Fukushima went direct to Kuroiso
with no change in Koriyama

From Kuroiso to Utsunomiya

Almost home...
After leaving before 7, I arrived back in Tokyo at 11.48