SendaiSpring
Another Golden Week came to Japan
On the strength of a online travel article we decided to vacation in Sendai
The article
We left by Shinkansen going north toward the Miyagi Prefecture. As we preceeded north we caught glimpses of spectacular mountain ranges and lush green farming plains.
We arrived the in afternoon and it was a nice mild day. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and started to walk around.
We went to the train station to check out the Loople Bus that takes tourists around the nice places in the city. Not only was there a huge Golden Week line for the bus it was also near the end of the day and there was no way to take advantage of the 600yen cost for the all day pass. So we took a pass and decided to do our own exploring on foot.
About ten minutes later we were leaving the main part of the city! Then we saw hills a forests and nature! It was rather shocking that a city that proudly asserts "we are a city of over a million people", on its travel guide would be so easy to escape from... ah, memories of San Francisco.
We continued through a park and found a nice treelined street. We found a modern looking city events center and popped in for some coffee. There was some kind of giant cardboard sumo wrestler event going on which was very entertaining. We went back to the hotel afterward and dipped into the baths before heading out for dinner.
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The next day we took a train out to Matsushima. These islands were all over a bay that is inhabited by great number of shell fish creature things and the folk spend long hours along the sea shore with rakes digging up clams. Oysters are harvested on wooden poles. There were huge (manmade?) islands of oyster shells that actually were sticking prominently out of the water during low tide. There were Golden week toursits everywhere.
The other noteworthy aspect of Matsushima are the old shrines, mausoleums, and cremation sites dug in to the rocks from caves already carved by the ocean.
Steamed oysters could be purchased on the street.
We escaped further north to a few more station stops in order to soak in the local farming villages. It was very tranquil as these farmers led lives that are a 180 degree difference from Tokyo. The strategy to go further north paid off as we were able to easily get seats for the return trip. When the train returned to Matsushima southbound the Golden Week tourists packed in. Sleepy tourists leaned like dominos against each other. I ususually sleep tilted forward so my weight is centered and I don't lean. But the weight of several drowsy folks were weighing into me. I leaned further forward and the lady next to me almost fell completely to the left before realizing her predicament. She apologized and then promply returned to using me as her pillow.
When we returned to Sendai the San Francisco theme continued as there was a sheen of drizzle and fog over the city. We had an excellent dinner that included my introduction to sauteed wasabi leaves.
The final day in Sendai we decided to take the loople bus. The theme of too many tourists continued as the bus was packed. We were lucky to get early and get seats. The bus slowly went towards the same nature area we had seen the first day. It went up a long hill and arrived at the ruins of Sendai castle. Date Masamune, the Samurai who founded Sendai around the same time Tokyo was founded, built this castle on a hill overlooking the city. It was rebuilt several times until American bombers "B San" took it out during WW2. Though the view was nice the castle grounds were swarming with tourists and in fact wasn't so interesting so we got on the next loople bus and continued to Tohoku University botanical garden.
The ancient forest was protected in the old days due to it's proximity to the castle. As it was a barrier between the castle and the outer areas the trees were allowed to grow freely. The property remained undisturbed and was then donated the Tohoku university after the war. It's called a botanical garden but in fact is a lush dense forest with beautifully made trails. We marched up and down the course.
We returned to downtown Sendai. In an outdoor mall we had descovered a small movie house that is owned by a local pharmacy. They were showing the Henry Darger movie that I hadn't seen yet so we checked it out. For once we were away from the Golden Week tourists. In this mall there is also a shrine. Suppose the store doesn't have an item you want. Just step into the local shrine and pray for the item! What a good forturne.
After the movie we took in some local flavor and had a solid meal. We collected our bags from the hotel and got the Shinkansen. The ride was fast and wonderfully convenient. We were back in Tokyo before we knew it.
Thanks for reading.
On the strength of a online travel article we decided to vacation in Sendai
The article
We left by Shinkansen going north toward the Miyagi Prefecture. As we preceeded north we caught glimpses of spectacular mountain ranges and lush green farming plains.
We arrived the in afternoon and it was a nice mild day. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and started to walk around.
We went to the train station to check out the Loople Bus that takes tourists around the nice places in the city. Not only was there a huge Golden Week line for the bus it was also near the end of the day and there was no way to take advantage of the 600yen cost for the all day pass. So we took a pass and decided to do our own exploring on foot.
About ten minutes later we were leaving the main part of the city! Then we saw hills a forests and nature! It was rather shocking that a city that proudly asserts "we are a city of over a million people", on its travel guide would be so easy to escape from... ah, memories of San Francisco.
We continued through a park and found a nice treelined street. We found a modern looking city events center and popped in for some coffee. There was some kind of giant cardboard sumo wrestler event going on which was very entertaining. We went back to the hotel afterward and dipped into the baths before heading out for dinner.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197742452853182642" />The next day we took a train out to Matsushima. These islands were all over a bay that is inhabited by great number of shell fish creature things and the folk spend long hours along the sea shore with rakes digging up clams. Oysters are harvested on wooden poles. There were huge (manmade?) islands of oyster shells that actually were sticking prominently out of the water during low tide. There were Golden week toursits everywhere.
The other noteworthy aspect of Matsushima are the old shrines, mausoleums, and cremation sites dug in to the rocks from caves already carved by the ocean.
Steamed oysters could be purchased on the street.
We escaped further north to a few more station stops in order to soak in the local farming villages. It was very tranquil as these farmers led lives that are a 180 degree difference from Tokyo. The strategy to go further north paid off as we were able to easily get seats for the return trip. When the train returned to Matsushima southbound the Golden Week tourists packed in. Sleepy tourists leaned like dominos against each other. I ususually sleep tilted forward so my weight is centered and I don't lean. But the weight of several drowsy folks were weighing into me. I leaned further forward and the lady next to me almost fell completely to the left before realizing her predicament. She apologized and then promply returned to using me as her pillow.
When we returned to Sendai the San Francisco theme continued as there was a sheen of drizzle and fog over the city. We had an excellent dinner that included my introduction to sauteed wasabi leaves.
The final day in Sendai we decided to take the loople bus. The theme of too many tourists continued as the bus was packed. We were lucky to get early and get seats. The bus slowly went towards the same nature area we had seen the first day. It went up a long hill and arrived at the ruins of Sendai castle. Date Masamune, the Samurai who founded Sendai around the same time Tokyo was founded, built this castle on a hill overlooking the city. It was rebuilt several times until American bombers "B San" took it out during WW2. Though the view was nice the castle grounds were swarming with tourists and in fact wasn't so interesting so we got on the next loople bus and continued to Tohoku University botanical garden.
The ancient forest was protected in the old days due to it's proximity to the castle. As it was a barrier between the castle and the outer areas the trees were allowed to grow freely. The property remained undisturbed and was then donated the Tohoku university after the war. It's called a botanical garden but in fact is a lush dense forest with beautifully made trails. We marched up and down the course.
We returned to downtown Sendai. In an outdoor mall we had descovered a small movie house that is owned by a local pharmacy. They were showing the Henry Darger movie that I hadn't seen yet so we checked it out. For once we were away from the Golden Week tourists. In this mall there is also a shrine. Suppose the store doesn't have an item you want. Just step into the local shrine and pray for the item! What a good forturne.
After the movie we took in some local flavor and had a solid meal. We collected our bags from the hotel and got the Shinkansen. The ride was fast and wonderfully convenient. We were back in Tokyo before we knew it.
Thanks for reading.
posted by lyle Nisenholz at 4:54 PM
2 comments
