Sendai: Day 13

I was really excited today because we were going to ride a bullet train for the first time. We got up earlier than usual and checked out of the Hostel, and then we had to go to Ueno to board our train to go to Sendai. We also activated out JR Passes today. They are really fun, you just go, show your pass and they either let you in no questions asked or they give you a reserved seat ticket for the Shinkansen (bullet train). There was a little bit of wait until our train came so I took a few pictures of trains coming in.

Here is our train, the Hayate!


I took a picture from the window because this was the first view we had of non-urban Japan.


The Shinkansen was much nicer than I expected it to be. I wish airplane seats had the same amount of room. I blogged for the entire hour and a half trip to Sendai and when we got there I packed up my computer, stretched and went to our next train. We had to take a local train to get to our Ryokan (Japanese style inn).

We ended turning a street too early and got lost when trying to find our Ryokan. I ended up having to ask for directions a few times but managed pretty well. The hard part for me isn’t asking the directions but understanding them. I am just glad I was able to understand the people each time. After making it there we had to check in, the hostess didn’t speak any English so I had to navigate through that as well. Again, I think I managed pretty well because I was able to explain the facilities to Erin and order breakfast for the next morning and all that jazz. She showed us to our room and it was just awesome. We had a traditional Japanese style room with tatami mat floors, futons, sliding doors and all that fun stuff. I will take some pictures of it before we leave.

Since we didn’t have much time in Sendai we decided to go visit the castle ruins. We took the bus to get there which was kind of fun. All of the Japanese buses, at least in Tokyo in Sendai, are hybrid so every time we stop or are cruising the engine turns off and the bus is completely silent. It is kind of eerie but cool. Another cool part of the bus trip is that we were driving through Japanese mountain passes and stuff. It totally made me think about Initial D and drifting. Those mountains would be so fun to drive through. I took a picture of a hairpin outside the castle.


We went into the castle area and they had these cool statues.

There was also a great view of Sendai from the mountains.





The only really cool thing left from the castle was the statue of this guy. I forgot his name but he was the first lord of Sendai. He also had a really cool helmet. Another cool fact about this guy is that he is all over the place in Sendai and around. They even have little plush toys of him in his helmet and eye patch. He is on candy too.


Some ruins of the castle walls.


The other parts of the castle were closed since it was so late in the afternoon so we couldn’t see the whole thing. I took some pictures on the way out, as usual I guess.


Erin is the first lord of Sendai!


Fanta Pineapple?

I took some more pictures of the hairpin and then practiced panning shots while we waited for the bus.



We decided to take the bus down the other half of the route since we hadn’t seen that side of the mountain yet. We went through some smaller towns and stuff and it was very cool. I also saw some Initial D style full service gas stations. Apparently a lot of gas stations in Japan are full service. It is pretty neat. We also saw a university in the mountains that I thought was very pretty. It was nice to see some of the smaller areas where people lived.

We went to a kaitenzushi in Sendai for dinner. The cool thing about that was that we couldn’t find the restaurant and I guess we looked lost because this random Japanese girl who spoke English came up and asked us if we needed any help finding anything. We told her we were looking for the particular restaurant and the offered to walk us there. She was really nice and I was impressed by her kindness. Her English was also very good. She said she traveled a lot and picked up English while she was in Australia for a while. When we made it to the restaurant she said we thanked her for her help and we parted ways.

The sushi place was good but it was nowhere near as tasty as the last place we ate, but it was still good and worth the money. I also ordered a lot of stuff here instead of just taking it off the assembly line. One of the things I got the chef blowtorched and then poured sauce on, talk about cool/yummy.


After dinner we went back to our ryokan and relaxed. We both also took Japanese style baths. Our ryokan didn’t have a hot spring but it still had a nice Jacuzzi for men and I think Erin had a big stone tub, both had piping hot water for relaxing in. Anyway, how they work is a little different than American baths. Basically you sit on a little stool and wash yourself outside of the bath and then make sure you are soap free and clean. Then you get into the actual bath. There you relax and get cleansed. I didn't relax too much because I was afraid someone else was going to come in since it was a public bath, but I still enjoyed it. When you get out you don’t change back into your clothes. Instead you put on a Yukata, or Japanese robe and wear that back to your room and as pajamas. Afterward we checked email and stuff and went to bed since we are going to Matsushima tomorrow.