Sendai trip.
Hello again from Tokyo, where typhoon season is in full swing. Sunday night and into Monday morning was rough for many people in Tokyo as flights were cancelled, trains were delayed, and power was out for many. Luckily for me, I was in Sendai, about 2 hours north of Tokyo, and the only sign of a typhoon was some heavy rain in the morning, which did eventually clear in the afternoon. I was concerned about damage to my apartment while I was gone, but nothing was damaged, which was a relief. The past week has been super busy hosting a friend from New Zealand, and we covered a lot of ground! We visited Ueno, The Imperial Palace and Tokyo Tower, and we did a day trip down to Kamakura and Enoshima as well as soaking in the craziness that is Shibuya and Harajuku. That was all before spending two nights in Sendai!
So now let's get into a recap of what we got up to in Sendai, also known as the city of trees. We arrived on Sunday (September 8th), and the weather was perfect, so we decided to head to Matsushima Bay, about 30 minutes out of the city. It's considered to be one of the top three most beautiful places in Japan, and cruising around the bay, I can see why. It is really pretty! However, I think in New Zealand the scenery is more dramatic than in Japan, and more striking. After the boat cruise, we enjoyed wandering around the town, and found an interesting outdoor Malaysian style restaurant for lunch. We crossed over a bridge to a secluded island, Fukuurajima, and spent another hour or so exploring. It was very serene and it was awesome to be by the ocean again. We then jumped back on the train to Sendai city and checked in to a capsule hotel! These kinds of hotels are everywhere in Japan, and I'd been wanting to try one for a while, so this seemed like a good opportunity to do so. The capsules were actually super roomy, and had a power outlet and dimming lights. You are given all your amenities, including slippers, pyjamas and toothbrushes and toothpaste. Everyone has a locker to keep things safe and secure, as you can't really take much into your capsule. You do have to be organised before you head to your capsule for the night as it's super quiet and you don't want to disturb people by rustling around in a backpack trying to find something. When I booked this, it said that breakfast would be included, which I thought would be perfect. However, what this really meant was that we were given a Starbucks gift card to use at the Starbucks down the street. I thought it was a little strange to advertise breakfast and then not provide anything on site, but it was fine. I think the capsule hotel is perfect if you're staying for a night or two and just need a place to sleep. It's great if you're on a tight budget too.
The next day the skies opened up and we huddled in Starbucks while we planned our sightseeing around the city itself. We then proceeded to catch the bus going the wrong direction, and go three stops too far on the subway line, but we made it eventually... :P First on the agenda was Aoba Castle, which is actually no longer standing thanks to air raids during the Second World War and the Great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011. Some of the castle walls are still intact, and from the site of the original castle, you can get a wonderful view of the city as it is atop a hill. After admiring the view, and getting drenched while doing so, we looked inside the museum that covers the history of the Masamune family, founders of the Sendai area, and how the castle came to be. We then discovered a food court on the castle grounds to retreat into and grab a bite to eat, before hopping on the 'Loople', the Sendai sightseeing bus. We eventually made it to the Mausoleum of Date Masamune, the original feudal Lord of Sendai. It was beautifully and intricately designed. On the same site were the graves of the following two Lords, Date Tadamune and Date Tsunamune. These were not as big, but still equally as intricate. The rain had stopped by this point thankfully, so we ended up walking the 20 minutes back to the capsule hotel to shower and freshen up before heading out for dinner. We settled on conveyor belt sushi for dinner that night.
The following day (Tuesday 10th) the weather was much more pleasant, and there was one more thing we had on our agenda of things to do in Sendai. This was a palaeolithic museum, which was closed the day before because it was a Monday and a lot of museums in Japan are closed on Mondays. It was an interesting insight into how people lived back in the day, and we could see remnants of campfires, old stone tools and more. At about lunch time we jumped on the train back to Tokyo!
I'd recommend Sendai for a change of pace from Tokyo and other major cities. It isn't on the tourist trail at all, and there's a lot of interesting history to learn about. I'd also highly recommend a stay in a capsule hotel too, especially if it's just for a night or two and you're on a budget.
My next trip is in about 7 weeks and it's to a whole new country! I'll keep the destination a secret for now I think, but I'll give you this as a hint... it's not too far away from Japan. So far, flights and accommodation are booked, but still need to organise time off work, change currency over and get travel insurance sorted.
Hope you enjoyed reading this wee update, and thanks as always for reading till the very end.
From Japan, with love,
Hannah. xx
So now let's get into a recap of what we got up to in Sendai, also known as the city of trees. We arrived on Sunday (September 8th), and the weather was perfect, so we decided to head to Matsushima Bay, about 30 minutes out of the city. It's considered to be one of the top three most beautiful places in Japan, and cruising around the bay, I can see why. It is really pretty! However, I think in New Zealand the scenery is more dramatic than in Japan, and more striking. After the boat cruise, we enjoyed wandering around the town, and found an interesting outdoor Malaysian style restaurant for lunch. We crossed over a bridge to a secluded island, Fukuurajima, and spent another hour or so exploring. It was very serene and it was awesome to be by the ocean again. We then jumped back on the train to Sendai city and checked in to a capsule hotel! These kinds of hotels are everywhere in Japan, and I'd been wanting to try one for a while, so this seemed like a good opportunity to do so. The capsules were actually super roomy, and had a power outlet and dimming lights. You are given all your amenities, including slippers, pyjamas and toothbrushes and toothpaste. Everyone has a locker to keep things safe and secure, as you can't really take much into your capsule. You do have to be organised before you head to your capsule for the night as it's super quiet and you don't want to disturb people by rustling around in a backpack trying to find something. When I booked this, it said that breakfast would be included, which I thought would be perfect. However, what this really meant was that we were given a Starbucks gift card to use at the Starbucks down the street. I thought it was a little strange to advertise breakfast and then not provide anything on site, but it was fine. I think the capsule hotel is perfect if you're staying for a night or two and just need a place to sleep. It's great if you're on a tight budget too.
The next day the skies opened up and we huddled in Starbucks while we planned our sightseeing around the city itself. We then proceeded to catch the bus going the wrong direction, and go three stops too far on the subway line, but we made it eventually... :P First on the agenda was Aoba Castle, which is actually no longer standing thanks to air raids during the Second World War and the Great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011. Some of the castle walls are still intact, and from the site of the original castle, you can get a wonderful view of the city as it is atop a hill. After admiring the view, and getting drenched while doing so, we looked inside the museum that covers the history of the Masamune family, founders of the Sendai area, and how the castle came to be. We then discovered a food court on the castle grounds to retreat into and grab a bite to eat, before hopping on the 'Loople', the Sendai sightseeing bus. We eventually made it to the Mausoleum of Date Masamune, the original feudal Lord of Sendai. It was beautifully and intricately designed. On the same site were the graves of the following two Lords, Date Tadamune and Date Tsunamune. These were not as big, but still equally as intricate. The rain had stopped by this point thankfully, so we ended up walking the 20 minutes back to the capsule hotel to shower and freshen up before heading out for dinner. We settled on conveyor belt sushi for dinner that night.
The following day (Tuesday 10th) the weather was much more pleasant, and there was one more thing we had on our agenda of things to do in Sendai. This was a palaeolithic museum, which was closed the day before because it was a Monday and a lot of museums in Japan are closed on Mondays. It was an interesting insight into how people lived back in the day, and we could see remnants of campfires, old stone tools and more. At about lunch time we jumped on the train back to Tokyo!
I'd recommend Sendai for a change of pace from Tokyo and other major cities. It isn't on the tourist trail at all, and there's a lot of interesting history to learn about. I'd also highly recommend a stay in a capsule hotel too, especially if it's just for a night or two and you're on a budget.
My next trip is in about 7 weeks and it's to a whole new country! I'll keep the destination a secret for now I think, but I'll give you this as a hint... it's not too far away from Japan. So far, flights and accommodation are booked, but still need to organise time off work, change currency over and get travel insurance sorted.
Hope you enjoyed reading this wee update, and thanks as always for reading till the very end.
From Japan, with love,
Hannah. xx
Comments
Post a Comment