>>1639763You're in luck, I forgot that that was actually my ride and I took a pic of the interior. For some reason I thought I took the Buna to Juuniko, I actually took it to Noshiro to drop my stuff off then backtracked on a local train to get back to see the ponds.
I think all the regular KiHa 48s on the Gono line use this layout. I think all the seating is laid out with seats facing each other so up to four people can all sit together. I've seen a lot of criticism of that layout (and admittedly it is a really mid-20th century anachronism at this point) but it does still make sense on these older rural lines since the trains typically aren't anywhere near full and it allows larger parties to sit together without talking across the aisle or over seatbacks.