Visitors have braved the rain to enjoy traditional potato stew cooked in a 6.5-meter-wide pot at an event in the northern Japanese city of Yamagata.

The annual event, which began in 1989, was held on a riverside on Sunday.

Cooks used large ladles to stir ingredients, including 3 tons of the root vegetable taro and 3,500 green onions to prepare 30,000 servings.

A crane hoisted a large lid over the pot to prevent rain from falling into it. Two excavators then scooped up the stew so it could be served in small containers.

A man who came from neighboring Fukushima Prefecture with his wife said that when they attended the event last year, the weather was hot.

He also said that tasting the stew in the rain has another kind of appeal.