kenleewrites in 日本

Took the Sendai city loope (loop) bus. Goes round and round the city. The bus comes every 20 minutes on weekdays and 15 on weekends. A one-day pass costs ¥600. Great value.

I was traveling with a chinese friend. So he had to go visit Lu Xun’s monument. This was a stop before Sendai Castle.

And Goemon just had to see Data Masamune’s bust while we were there. Who is Date Masamune?

You just have to love that crescent moon headgear.

Goemon’s so tiny ^^.

Here’s me with Lord Date.

This is how you carry your gorillapod when you’re not using it as a camera tripod. I love this tool.

Alighting from the bus stop, behold! The gate to Sendai Castle. The stone base you see on the left is the original castle base. Not a replica. It survived various wars including WWII.

The famous large equestrian statue of Date Masamune.

The statue without Goemon in the way.

From the front. You can see the spectacular city view in the background. But from the angle he’s at, he isn’t looking over the city. I wonder what he’s looking at.

This is just me playing with monotone.

I guess if you were a foot soldier kneeling before him, this is how he would have looked. Intimidating.

A clear shot of Date Masamune.

The Gokoku Shrine (Gokoku-jinja 護国神社) on site where the main castle grounds were.

School girls on a trip. I reckon Japanese school kids get more excursions than everyone else. You think so?

Goemon taking in the city view from Sendai Castle.

If it’s one thing I learnt on my visit to Sendai Castle, it has be to this. My friend makes a very ugly girl ^^.

I also wanted to visit the family graves of the Date clan. Didn’t have time. If you do happen to go, let me know how it went. Gotta plan another trip down to Sendai sometime soon ^^.

If you’re in Sendai, try to make a trip down to Matsushima. It’s one of the “Three views of Japan”, which loosely means “Gotta see”! It’s a group of about 260 small scattered islands covered with pine trees. It’s not so far from Sendai station. Under half an hour by train. Check here for tourist information. I didn’t have much time to spend there, only a few hours this first trip. Although I walked from Matsushima station on the Tohoku main line (東北本線) to the Matsushima-kaigan (松島海岸) station on the Senseki line (仙石線), I would recommend going straight to Matsushima-kaigan station if you’re going there for the first time. Most of the attractions are located there. There are 4 different vantage points to view Matsushima bay from. 2 of which are nearer to Matsushima station. I didn’t go to those 2 places.

This is the path I took.

Matsushima station. You can only get small stations like this far far away from big big metropolitan cities.

Matsushima bay.

Fukuurabashi. This bridge is pretty famous. Costs ¥200 to cross.

Just before crossing the bridge.

Goemon viewing the bay.

Lots of small boats like these around. People who own one don’t have to pay the ¥200 toll for crossing Fukuurabashi.

On the other end of Fukuurabashi. Fukuurajima. I think she’s collecting oysters. This area is pretty famous for oysters too… besides beef tongue.

Running out of time… gotta walk back across the bridge.

Goemon posing on the bridge.

If you were as short as him, this is what you would see.

Fukuurabashi from afar.

Took a cruise around the bay. When the ship left the harbor, the seagulls followed. I wonder why…

Because they get fed! Smart little devils aren’t they ^^.

Lots of islands from here on.

Islands…

Islands again…

If I remember correctly, this one is called 仁王島. Looks like a man sitting on a chair.

Natural gas power station. Fill me with peas and I’ll be abundant with natural gas ^^.

One of the 日本三景 (Nihon sankei, Three views of Japan), Matsushima.

A bridge leading to Godaido Hall.

If you strain your eyes, you can see a couple walking across Fukuurabashi.

During sakura season, you can go ohanami (お花見), watching flowers. When a big wave comes, you can go ツナ見 (tunami), watching tuna ^^. Just kidding. It’s suppose to read “Tsunami”. But with Japanese input, “tsu” and “tu” give the same つ character.

Taken in Zuiganji temple. Has rich history dating back to the Heian period. Lots of dragon pine trees there. Tall too!

Date Masamune. I asked, this is not a Date Masamune onigiri.

Destination point Matsushima-kaigan station.

I hope to go back there sometime. Hopefully next time, I’ll be able to linger longer and have my slr with me. Because there was a typhoon report, I left it at home and only brought along the compact ><. What do you think? Wanna go there yourself sometime in the future?